CBS’ Hit Series Matlock’s Planned Season 3 Time Jump Explained After Major Schedule Change

Matlock isn’t just getting a schedule change — but a time jump as well.

“Season 3 will not pick up directly [after the season 2 finale],” creator Jennie Snyder Urman told Deadline. “It’ll be six months to a year, I would say.”

Urman also confirmed this in an interview with TVLine, teasing how Matty (Kathy Bates) and Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) will be working in a new firm.

“It’ll be a little time jump: six to nine months, something like that,” she continued. “Not like five years later and everything has changed. But we’re not a direct pickup, like we were this year.”

Before the season 2 finale, it was confirmed that Matlock is returning for a third season — but will go through a schedule change after a “complete reset” for the show.

“I asked for it with the network. We had a talk,” Urman told TV Insider. “I just feel like we had so much stuff to think about because we really landed the plane on this, and we really thought that was important because we didn’t want to keep dragging out the same story, and the characters have to get to someplace real emotionally.”

Urman confirmed that season 2 would wrap up the Wellbrexa story line, which meant a complete “reset” for the series.

“When we took this two-hour finale and really paid a lot of things off, what came with that was I’m going to need time after that to really build the architecture so that we have it for the next seasons,” she teased. “I’m excited about it, but I am also grateful because we needed a little bit of time.”

Urman addressed possible disappointment from viewers, adding, “Sad for audiences, but actually really good for me and the writers because I want us to plot this new mystery and make sure it’s airtight.”

She continued: “We had a lot of pieces going in, so we really had to create this new piece of it. I feel lucky that the network’s giving us time to get it right because I don’t want the quality to drop.”

CBS previously announced its schedule on April 15 with viewers noticing some substantial changes. Ghosts, Matlock and NCIS: Sydney received a shakeup by having their premieres moved to 2027 for midseason. They will join the new show Einstein, which is finally premiering in 2027 as well.

Matlock’s time slot will be given to Elsbeth to allow Cupertino to premiere on the same night. NCIS: Sydney, meanwhile, is moving to midseason as NCIS: Origins — which received a shorter episode order — takes over to pair off with NCIS: New York.