It’s been quite a week for “Matlock” star Skye P. Marshall. The actress received her second Critics Choice Award nomination on Friday, presented the 2026 Golden Globe nominations alongside Marlon Wayans Monday morning and was honored at the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Black Cinema and Television on Tuesday night — all while filming the CBS drama opposite Kathy Bates during the day.
“It feels magical. It feels very sparkly — I feel it in my body … I’ve cried and screamed and jumped for joy, I haven’t held back on my emotion,” Marshall told TheWrap, noting that she’s been balancing gains alongside grief for loved ones. “I just let the wave rush over me, because it’s everything that I hoped for for myself, and for this experience that I chose at a late age when it was really scary to pivot at 28 in my career.”
Up until then, Marshall was working a corporate job in pharmaceutical marketing and had a stint in the Air Force, which she credits for both enabling her to pay for college using the GI Bill as well as training her on how to use fear to her benefit. “I never go on the set of ‘Matlock’ not scared … when I walked out on that stage to present the awards for the Golden Globes, I was petrified,” she said. “But when I use it … it’s like a cloak of protection.”
“It’s just all such confirmation that the belief that I had in myself and that my parents and my friends had in me, and my acting teachers and every single person who’s trusted me that that belief was concrete,” Marshall added. “The receipts are showing up in a way that is so overwhelming … this is an epic way to end the year.”
Season 1 introduced Marshall as Olympia Lawrence, a hard to crack and high-powered lawyer whose heart softened to Bates’ Madeline “Matty” Matlock, growing into a tender friendship. That took a turn once Olympia learned Matty was working at Jacobson Moore under the guise of a fake name to collect evidence that the firm played a role in prolonging the opioid crisis, which led to the death of Matty’s daughter.
“I wanted the audience to see more vulnerability from Olympia, because there was so much betrayal in Season 1, and how do you hold all that in? I’ve done that before as a person,” Marshall said, noting that the questions surrounding Olympia in Season 2 include, “How do I manage my relationships and my love and my trust and my family, my past and my future? How do I balance all of that and take care of everyone if I’m not taking care of myself?” “I’m excited to see, what reaction is that going to have on Olympia.”
As Olympia balances loyalties between her friendship with Matty and her loyalty to both her ex-husband Julian (Jason Ritter) and former father-in-law and head of Jacobson Moore Senior (Beau Bridges), Marshall looked forward to getting to know “Who’s behind the suit” as “Matlock” returned for Season 2 this fall. The season features substantially more scenes at Olympia’s brownstone home, which presented Marshall with a new wardrobe for her character filled with patterns, immediately informing her of Olympia’s more relaxed vibe at home.
While “Matlock” had already laid out Olympia’s sacred relationship with her late father, Season 2, Episode 7 introduced a new part of Olympia’s life as it explored her relationship with her mom, played by Vernee Watson — a surreal casting for Marshall, who admitted she was “obsessed” with “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” growing up. “We just really wanted to shape what that relationship was and we both pulled from our own experiences … I was so proud of what came out on the screen,” she said.
Episode 7 also featured a handful of flashbacks from when Olympia and Julian were still together, which Marshall hopes will provide some empathy for his character and the decision he made decades ago to hide the Wellbrexa study on his father’s orders.
“The common thread for Julian is that he’s always wanted to support — he’s always wanted to do good, and he is an example of sometimes good people make bad choices, but it doesn’t make them a bad person. That’s what Julian is fighting for,” Marshall said, noting that Julian’s decision to hide the document can be traced back to his need to be “recognized and appreciated” by his father.
Just as Marshall expands the reaches of her own character, she has also deepened her relationship with Bates, recalling filming a scene with the Oscar winner wherein Olympia and Matty were in a high-stakes situation and crossed over an “invisible line” where Marshall said the pair wasn’t acting anymore.
“The synergy we’ve created is so ingrained in our belief system that the body starts to react, the veins start to pop, and she’s the only actor that’s been able to get that out of me,” Marshall said. “I think that’s why they call her a G.O.A.T. and they call her a legend, and they call her magical, and they call her a masterclass, because it’s not so much that like her delivery is always epic — it’s how she makes you feel, whether you’re a scene partner or whether you’re sitting at home on your couch.”
As “Matlock” gears up to air its fall finale Thursday night, Marshall noted the title of the episode, “Call it a Christmas Gift” is just that: “The audience is about to get a nice present for the end of the year to send us off in the midseason,” Marshall said, adding the episode is about “holding your heroes accountable and how hard that can be.”
And if viewers have any questions, Marshall encourages them to hit her up on social media. “I can’t answer everything, but I’m happy to converse about ‘Matlock,’ because it’s one of my favorite topics,” she said.
“Matlock” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.
