For the most part, you’d never really know that Elsbeth is a spinoff of The Good Wife and The Good Fight. Every once in a while, Elsbeth’s past comes back to haunt her, and occasionally her work as a lawyer in Chicago is mentioned. However, you don’t need to have seen the previous two shows to understand the lore. However, as Season 3 approaches its premiere on the 2025 TV schedule, a guest star has been added that marks this CBS series’ strongest connection back to its predecessors.
Last season, Christian Borle’s Carter Schmidt came to New York to pay Elsbeth a visit. This season, Sarah Steele will be reprising her role as Marissa Gold, per EW. For those who might not remember, Marissa made her debut on The Good Wife in Season 2 (which you can stream with a Paramount+ subscription). As the daughter of Alan Cumming’s Eli Gold, she appeared after that in Seasons 3, 6 and 7. She was in 22 episodes of the flagship show in total before becoming a regular on The Good Fight.
As I mentioned, Steele was a regular on The Good Fight, with her run starting on Episode 2 of Season 1. She appeared in 58 of the show’s 60 episodes, where she served as the firm’s private investigator. However, on Elsbeth, we’ll get to see how she’s switched careers, as she enters the story as the campaign manager for New York mayoral candidate Alec Bloom.
Considering the numbers alone, Steele’s involvement in Elsbeth easily marks the show’s most direct connection back to the franchise, seeing as Borle appeared in five episodes of The Good Wife and three episodes of The Good Fight.
Now, other than the few guest stars, Cary Agos (who was played by Matt Czuchry) was name-dropped very early on in the show. He was in every episode of The Good Wife, making his name the biggest to get mentioned. Elsbeth has also mentioned her ex-husband a few times, and he was played by Will Patton on the OG project. However, since they have not appeared in person, they’re not the strongest connection.
Also, there have been a few actors who have appeared on Elsbeth and The Good Wife; however, they played different characters. For example, Nathan Lane was in the Season 2 premiere of Carrie Preston’s show. However, he did not play lawyer and accountant Clarke Hayden. He played the murderous opera aficionado Phillip Cross.
So, again, Sarah Steele’s involvement in Elsbeth as Marissa Gold is a very, very big deal. Not only is her character iconic, but she also opens a door for more legendary characters to pop up, like Alan Cumming’s Eli Gold (I’d also love to see him play a new and campy murderer on Elsbeth, too). Though admittedly, that feels like a very far-flung dream.
Coming back to reality, it will be fascinating to see what brings Marissa into the story. It sounds like she’s taking a page out of her dad’s book by getting into politics and managing a campaign. I also can’t wait to see what her interactions with Elsbeth are like and if any old memories from their times on The Good Wife and The Good Fight come up.
Along with Steele, William Jackson Harper (who you might recognize as Chidi from The Good Place) and Ivan Hernandez will also guest star in the episode that’s titled “Poetic Justice.”
It’s unclear which episode this is specifically; however, odds are it will be early in the season. So, make sure to tune into Elsbeth’s third season starting Sunday, October 12 at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS. Then, make sure to keep watching as it moves back to its normal night and continues to air weekly on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET.