Article
•
•
1 min read
Lea Michele's Dark Turn: Why Is She Facing Off Against Elsbeth?
Elsbeth has recruited Lea Michele to play a Pilates trainer at the center of a murder case — and Us has the exclusive first look.
In a sneak peek from the upcoming November 19 episode of the hit CBS series, Michele’s character, Darcy Miles, faces off against Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) in an unlikely place — the gym.
Elsbeth is all decked out in neon workout attire while trying to get to the bottom of a new case. According to the official synopsis, Elsbeth “feels the burn when a Pilates student’s murder pits her against a celebrity fitness guru.”
After originally appearing on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, Preston, 59, was reintroduced as Elsbeth Tascioni, who became a de facto detective aiding the NYPD in their investigations. Elsbeth’s unconventional methods help her make unique observations to solve crimes.
Elsbeth, which premiered in 2024, also stars Wendell Pierce. The procedural nature of the show brings new characters to each episode, with viewers usually knowing who is to blame for a crime from the beginning. Guest stars have included Jane Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Blair Underwood, Keegan-Michael Key, Laura Benanti and Vanessa Williams, among others.
The show has kept viewers on their toes not only with surprise cameos, but also with exits. Season 2 specifically featured Carra Patterson departing the show as a series regular.
The show explained Kaya’s absence by revealing she was on an undercover assignment in Washington, D.C. (She has since returned but is not a regular presence on the show.)
“I was concerned when Carra needed to go and what we were going to do without her,” Preston told Us in February. “But what ended up happening was we brought on Lindsay Mendez, B, Ethan Slater and we brought all these wonderful characters.”
The shakeup allowed the show’s writers to get creative with where the story was going.
“[It brought] change, growth, conflict, loss and all of those things are enriching for any character. Our show for the first couple of seasons was also very much a romance where these two women were very much connected and they were so different and yet found this incredible common ground through their work together,” Preston told Us. “That doesn’t go away. So the longing for that — for her best friend — and to be with her has created some really fun and deep and touching scene work.”
The actress continued: “When Kaya does come back then we get to see that reunion. We get to see them fall back into where they were, but both of them have experienced things apart that they can bring to the friendship. It’s been interesting, and the writers have done such a beautiful job of not trying to fill the shoes of Kaya because you can’t, but instead bringing in different sidekicks for Elsbeth and seeing her have relationships with those people and those are different [from] what she has with Kaya. All of those things are doing nothing but making it a richer tapestry for the actors and hopefully for the audience.”
Elsbeth airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
