Posted in: CBS, TV | Tagged: Elsbeth

Elsbeth: Carrie Preston on Season 4 Hopes, Guest Stars; Dianne Wiest

Elsbeth star Carrie Preston on having faith in Showrunner Jonathan Tolins and the writing team heading into Season 4, Dianne Wiest, and more.

Just because it's the summer doesn't mean that it's too soon for a weekly check-in on how things are going with CBS, EPs Robert King & Michelle King, and Showrunner Jonathan Tolins's Carrie Preston-starring Elsbeth, along with some insights on what the fourth season might have to offer. Checking in with the Los Angeles Times' The Envelope podcast, Preston opened up about why working with guest star Dianne Wiest (Mother Constance in S03E07: "And Then There Were Nuns") was a moment that stood out to her. In addition, Preston offers some thoughts on what she would like to see in the fourth season (Meryl Streep?!?) and how much trust she puts in Tolins and the writing team when it comes to expanding the show's universe moving forward.

Preston on Working with Dianne Wiest: "I'm a huge, lifelong fan of Dianne Wiest, like top five. And when I found out she was gonna be in the episode where she plays a nun, a murderous nun, I just thought, 'I'm not gonna be able to contain myself.' I usually reach out to everybody before to send them an email or a text or something and just tell them how thrilled I am that they've said yes.

So I wrote her a thank-you for saying yes/stalker-level fan email. And she wrote back. And she's like, 'Oh, Carrie, I'm so happy to hear that.' It was just like, 'Oh, my God, I could just hear her voice.' When she showed up — I mean, she's Dianne Wiest. And she is wearing a nun's habit, and I couldn't stop staring at her face. She would catch me staring at her and then she would just smile, with that sweet gorgeous face of hers and I would say, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know that it's probably making you uncomfortable. I just am absolutely honored. I do not even understand how I got to be so lucky to have someone like you doing this.'

And you could say that for every single person on the show. I fangirl on them in the way that the character fangirls on Diane Lockhart. You know what I mean? The same little spirit lives inside me that is Elsbeth. I have wonder and appreciation. And it's become more infectious. She has become more infectious the more I play her."

Preston Offers Season 4 "Wish List," Talks Showrunner & Writing Team: "We're getting wonderful people who are interested in the show, and I'm so proud of that, and I know Jon is too. Jon Tolins is our showrunner. We've really, both of us, made it our personal missions to create an environment — and he creates scripts — that people want to come and participate in, and a welcoming place where somebody gets to play a delicious character for eight or nine days and then go on with their busy careers.

I never would have dreamed that, for example, Steve Buscemi would have wanted to be on a show like 'Elsbeth,' but he did and he asked to be on it. That blew our minds and it still is blowing our minds. So I could not even dream of most of the people that have come on. That said, you know, I've said this before, I'm a huge Meryl Streep fan. I would love for her to come on. We think often about, maybe we should see a parent of Elsbeth, a mother maybe. So we play around with different ideas for that, and that would be nice to see because we've seen Elsbeth as a mother, but we haven't seen her as a daughter. We've seen her as a friend, but we haven't seen deep into her origin story. So I think that could be a fun thing to tap in Season 4. But I trust Jon and the writers."

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