As Elsbeth’s love life gets more complicated, her son, Teddy, could come to the rescue now that he is in his investigative era.
During the Thursday, November 20, episode of the CBS series, Teddy (Ben Levi Ross) was assigned a profile on Elsbeth’s (Carrie Preston) potential boyfriend, Alec (Ivan Hernandez). Teddy researched Alec’s past — including a story about his childhood — that led him to a man who knew the mayoral candidate.
In the final scene, Teddy realized the man had memory issues and wasn’t actually familiar with Alec. This made Teddy question whether Alec was really who he said he was — especially with Elsbeth falling for him.
“I think this [job] is a better fit. He feels excited about it,” Ross, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly about how Teddy’s foray into journalism will get explored further. “He was a little tentative about the whole lawyer situation. So this is a really good middle ground for him.”
Ross teased that Teddy is “very passionate about this career,” adding, “His work allows him to interact with his mom a little bit more on some of the cases. We see him getting more comfortable in New York since he lives here now.”
While leaving Teddy’s story in the hands of the writers, Ross has been thrilled to see his character play such a key role.
“I have little say in what I get to do so far but I’m loving that that is happening,” he continued. “As we continue to film every week, I’m just so excited to see what they said because it’s been really fun so far.”
After originally appearing on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, Preston was reintroduced as Elsbeth Tascioni in the CBS procedural, who becomes a de facto detective aiding the NYPD in their investigations. The titular character’s unconventional methods lead her to make unique observations that help solve crimes.
Elsbeth, which premiered in 2024, also stars Wendell Pierce, expanded on the main character’s personal life and introduced Us to her son, Teddy. The second season offered a glimpse into Teddy adjusting to life in New York, making a decision about his career and finding love with Roy (Hayward Leach).
“Their relationship is giving stable, it’s giving living together in New York,” Ross teased. “They are a settled couple.”
He continued: “We’re trying to give our creative input as much as possible but the writers are so good. [Executive producer] Jonathan Tolins and the whole writing team is so good about writing the whole scope of the season at the top. So I’m just excited.”
Ross is currently pulling double duty by balancing Elsbeth while also reprising his role as Mother’s Younger Brother in a Broadway revival of Ragtime.
“It’s an embarrassment of riches just to be able to say that I’m shooting a TV show and doing Ragtime. Who can complain?” he shared with Us. “Mondays are our day off on Broadway. So the last few weeks, I’ve been shooting [Elsbeth] on Mondays.”
Ross called theater “entirely different” from filming a TV show.
“With theater, you’re doing one show and you’re doing an entire journey of a character over two to three hours, man. With TV, it’s like we’re going scene by scene so I’m learning from everyone,” he added. “We have some of the best cast members. This is such a theater friendly set and they get the strains and stresses of a Broadway schedule.”
Elsbeth airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
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