This article contains spoilers for the two-part Matlock season 1 finale, “Tricks of the Trade.”
Jason Ritter was among the first to know a massive spoiler for the Matlock season finale, and he struggled to keep it to himself.
The actor, who plays lawyer Julian Markston on the legal drama, is revealed to be the mystery WellBrexa conspirator in this week’s season finale — and he couldn’t tell anyone on set or at home.
Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman dropped the bombshell on Ritter about two-thirds of the way through the season, and Skye P. Marshall, who plays Julian’s ex, Olympia Lawrence, knew something was up almost immediately.
“Jennie pulled me aside before a table read and just said, ‘I think it’s important that you know that this is coming,'” Ritter tells Entertainment Weekly. “So it was very exciting and it was also very difficult to keep that a secret — especially from Skye. She really was like, ‘What was that conversation about?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know anything!’ She is like a laser. So she zeroed right in on it, and she’s like, ‘Is it you? Is it you?’ I could barely keep any secrets.”
The actor says that he never even hinted at Julian’s guilt to his wife, Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey. “It was just the writers and me, as far as I could tell,” says Ritter, who spoke to EW ahead of Thursday’s finale. “Melanie doesn’t like any spoilers, so I couldn’t even tell her at home. I still haven’t told Melanie. She will not know until the finale airs because she really dislikes a spoiler. So yeah, I’ll finally be able to stop keeping secrets in my own home.”
Ritter also recalls the reaction in the room when the cast read through the script for the final episode of the season. “Some people have purposefully not read the finale to be able to hear it live,” he explains. “It was really fun to get to the finale and hear gasps in the room, and ‘I can’t believe it was you!'”
He continues, “I remember people having a big response to it, and we all were talking about what’s going to happen next. How is season 2 going to start with all of the incredible cliffhangers? Alfie’s father coming home, Claudia’s pregnancy, and all of that stuff. There’s so much going on — it’s very exciting.”
Jason Ritter and Skye P. Marshall on ‘Matlock’. CBS
In Ritter’s standout scene in the finale, Julian confesses his guilt to Olympia, revealing that he conspired with his father to hide evidence that could have taken opioids off the market. “We’ve seen Julian come clean about his affair, we’ve seen him not at his best — fighting, sniping, being a little jerk sometimes,” Ritter reflects. “But this is the first time that we’ve seen Julian completely vulnerable like this.”
Ritter says, “His armor has just cracked, and someone’s ready to slice his Achilles heel at any moment. The most challenging thing was trying to think: since this person has created this fortress around his secret, what does it look like when the walls crumble down?”
Season 1 of Matlock is now streaming on Paramount+.
