Mattlock's Jason Ritter Talks Julian's final betrayal, teasing Season 2
Matlock Finally revealed who is responsible for stealing Wellbrexa files – but where will the show come from here?
In the season finale airing Thursday, April 17, Julian (Jason Ritter) was revealed as the person responsible for hiding documents. When Olympia (Skye Marshall) Facing him, Julian begged her not to reveal his secret to anyone–thoughKathy Bates) Waiting to find out if Julian was at fault.
Ritter, 45, breaks shocking moments in an exclusive interview US Weekly“About halfway through this season, I was told it was mine. It helps because there are some things in the story that I might be a little coquettish or detained. But you don't know if it's about big lies or smaller lies.”
After leaving the loop in the first half of the season, Ritter is glad he knows the ending.
“At some point, I felt it was important to know what it was. I didn't decide that moment, but I believe Yana Grebenyuk Jenny [Snyder Urman] so much. I think she is a great writer and performer,” he told us. “So she pulled me aside at the right time and let me know what was going on. But I don't know how that would unfold.”
(LR): Jason Ritter is “Julian Markston”.
Michael Yarish/CBSJulian's fate “stayed in Olympia's hands” without a solution, and was interested in Ritter's fate.
“The ending with Olympia and Julian, in this safe, it's just the two of them begging him for the rest of their lives, and that's the only version I've ever read,” he shared. “When we finished reading the table, people really liked that scene, like, 'Oh my god, what's going to happen next?' That's exactly the cliff you want.”
Julian’s reasoning was explored before Thursday’s episode, and Ritter wants viewers to understand his decision, saying, “There is a miserable element. From the start of this season, they set it in your place, ‘Whoever is, has to go to jail. That’s it.” Now you can see that the people behind you still do a horrible thing, and that can’t be discounted. ”
Ritter continued: “But, as Jenny's writing is always–more and layered than that. Humans are complex. As a lawyer in the world, it's one thing, and then for Olympia, talking to her child's father is another, talking to her child's father and thinking about how it will affect them, they can't cause a huge busyness.
According to Ritter, Julian may feel regretful, even if not outspoken. “He put these documents in that safe and it took him about a decade to think he would be caught.” “Eventually, he was raising the kids and things started to look normal. Maybe he was a good dad and he did something horrible. I don't think he used to think that in years, this would come back and he would fight for his life.”
Matlock premiered in September 2024, following a wealthy retired lawyer named Madeline Kingston (Bates) who pretends to be a poor widow named Matty Matlock and finds a job at Jacobson Moore Moore Law Firm. It turns out that Marty believes someone at the company was accomplice of the opioid epidemic, resulting in the death of her daughter.
The first season revealed Julian’s mistakes against Olympia, but it’s unclear whether Olympia would tell Matty or protect Julian for their family.
“Olympia has such a strong moral center that they don’t have children together – even if they get married – she would say, ‘I’m sorry, but you did.’ If Julian goes to jail or Julian goes to the fight, I don’t know what she would do,” Ritter teased. “I'm interested to see. But, I wonder if it's enough to refocus on the seniors once she hears the reasoning about his father? Or is it too far to really get him into trouble?”
There are also potential reconciliation topics for Olympia and Julian.
He told us: “I don't know that left romance. I think Olympia is such a good person and a morally straightforward person, and it's really hard for her to trust him again.” “After a huge, biased event, trust is so important. Destruction and hard and painful are so important.
After the shocking finale, in the Julian story of Season 2, there is a lot of potential.
“We're going to see more Julian, not only to know him. We have to meet his mother, which is very exciting for me. We may meet him more family. Julian is not a junior high school. So I'm happy to meet my brother.” “He has a completely different relationship with our father than Julian, and it's also painful.”
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Ritter was also excited about “more backstory,” he said, “Olympia talked a lot about his family, but we didn’t see a lot of things. It was a very interesting character. He had a lot of different elements and it was fun not to have to do one thing.”
The best part of the ending is revealed? Know that Julian will have more scenes with Marty.
“That's what I can't stop thinking because we didn't get at the end of the season. Will Marty know with certainty that Julian did it? If she's sure Julian knew Julian did it, it's too painful, too much anger at the loss of her daughter, will these two find out that the direction of going forward does not involve Julian's company?” Ritter asked. “I'm interested. Sometimes, does Marty understand why Julian did this and can forgive? Or we're conflicting throughout the season, which is totally OK. I just know that the writers will choose the most interesting and funniest version.”
Matlock Season 2 has been renewed and all episodes can be played on Paramount+.
