Unfortunately for Crawford, Legal Eagle Elsbeth is fierce and will cause unnecessary headaches for him.
So, of course, I said, Oh, it would be fun to have Michael.
I wont say it was my idea because anyone is lucky to have Michael.
Carrie Preston and husband Michael Emerson in BTS photo from CBS' ‘Elsbeth’CBS
DEADLINE:This Judge Crawford is quite the character.
You have played some baddies before and Crawford is definitely one of those.
What insight can you give into what he brings to the series?
Carrie Preston and Michael Emerson in theElsbethepisode, “One Angry Woman”CBS
MICHAEL EMERSON:Hes haughty and ambitious.
Hes kind of an Ivy League, blue-blood.
She returns to her legal roots after becoming frustrated with the defense teams attorney.
Did you enjoy doing that again?
You see her in that world again, the legal world.
Shes usually the smartest person in the room and uses that to great advantage.
In this case, she has met her match with this judge.
Michaels character definitely does that for her.
When the show has a little bit of danger, it always ups the stakes.
Would you say she keeps him on his toes?
EMERSON:Oh, yeah.
I think hes been a judge for so long, that hes used to never being questioned.
He feels hes kind of a law unto himself, like everyone he underestimates.
Ill get her in there and shell be putty in my hands.
But he will be dismayed to find that she is a legal prodigy and not awed by authority figures.
DEADLINE:Without giving away too much, Elsbeth and the Judge will go toe-to-toe on this case.
What was it like to play that out?
EMERSON:It is fun.
So I have to erase that and that takes some mental power.
PRESTON:The fun thing about working with Michael is that, weve been together for 30 years.
Weve been married 26, so we have this ease with each other.
We didnt even talk about the scenes at home and we didnt work on them together.
And then we just showed up and were able to put each others performances in the others hands.
EMERSON:Were so in the habit of leaving the other one alone with their work.
We dont rehearse together.
I dont help her out, as if she needed it, and she doesnt help me out.
We just keep our professional stuff separate and private, sort of.
PRESTON:It was very fun to show up and see what Michael had cooked up as this judge.
I didnt know what he was going to do with it.
He, of course, has been watching me playElsbethfor 14 years.
So we got to bleed over a little bit on what our real relationship is.
With you both being such busy actors, did working on Elsbeth give you more time to spend together?
PRESTON:Yeah, because we dont see each other now during the week.
I get up at four in the morning and then Im gone until after dark.
PRESTON:He had to say yes, what would we do?
EMERSON:Oh, hello?
Its me your husband.
