Although Kathy Bates is the one with the Emmy nomination, Matlock houses another breakout star who might benefit from their co-star’s acclaim. Kathy Bates’ Emmy nomination for Matlock already makes history, making her the oldest star to receive the honor of being nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. But she isn’t the only one who stands to benefit.
Heading into Matlock season 2, it’s already exciting to see how certain characters will continue to develop. The first season finale puts multiple characters on track to play more dramatic storylines in the future, and one particular member of Matlock’s cast of characters could profoundly benefit from the additional attention Bates’ nomination will earn the series.
Kathy Bates’ Landmark Emmy Nomination Draws More Attention To Matlock
The Series’ Main Star Was Already A Big Reason To Watch
Even without Kathy Bates, Matlock’s Emmy potential was baked right into the first episode’s script. The series follows a relatively unique dramatic premise rather than drawing exclusively from the original, allowing it to stand out as one of the freshest reboots on TV because of its innate differences from the title series that allow it to stand on its own.
For this reason, some fans saw it as a bit of an upset that Matlock wasn’t nominated on its own merit to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. Granted, this would have pitted the network show against some strong contenders such as Severance, Slow Horses, and The White Lotus. That would put a network series in a pretty strong standing.
Instead, Kathy Bates’ nomination is the only Emmy nomination that Matlock received across all categories. However, this isn’t necessarily a problem. Even if it didn’t give Matlock the instant awards cred that fans hoped for, it still stands to draw more eyes to the show when assessing awards potential in future seasons.
Kathy Bates was really the main draw when the show was first announced, before anyone could have guessed just how much the show would utilize well-executed twists to derive more organic interest from the very first episode. Fortunately, the Primetime Emmys drawing more attention to Bates can serve to highlight her undeservedly less acclaimed co-stars as well.
Matlock’s Increased Hype Brings More Attention To Skye Marshall’s Underrated Performance
She Deserves More Eyes On Her After Season 1’s Ending
It’s not that surprising that Matlock’s Skye P. Marshall has wound up on several lists of 2025’s biggest Emmy snubs, considering Olympia Lawrence is an arguably more dramatic character than Bates’ Madeline Matlock in several episodes. That stands to become even truer as the series heads into its sophomore season with a major status quo change.
After the Matlock season 1 finale, Olympia has the power to decide whether Matty gets her revenge on Wellbrexa or if the evidence disappears to keep Julian safe. That essentially makes Olympia’s dilemma the most consequential storyline in the series, with the potential to determine how quickly the series wraps up its main story arc in favor of another.
Thanks to Bates’ nomination, potential fans who missed out on Matlock season 1 are more likely to go back and give it a look, which will mark many of those viewers’ introduction to Marshall. Since she’s largely done lesser-known projects or one-off episodes of other shows, it would also be most viewers’ first time seeing her in a starring role.
Word of mouth can mean a lot to a series’ early success, and the same goes for actors. Marshall’s relatively unknown status could have kept eyes off of her during the 2025 Emmy nominations, but those same voters now have more reason to watch her closely in upcoming seasons. If they do, they should like what they find.
Why Skye P. Marshall’s Matlock Role Deserves Future Emmy Consideration
She Plays An Even More Dramatic Role Than Her Co-Star
There’s no doubt that Kathy Bates plays an extraordinarily dramatic character, and her nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series was very much earned. By another token, however, Olympia deals with extreme drama in episodes that hardly explore Matty’s backstory at all. This makes Olympia’s storylines worth a closer look the next time the Emmys roll around.
On top of that, Olympia had to play on several subtle motivations throughout that entire storyline. Olympia now knows that she lost the only recording of her deceased father because Matty knowingly stole it, a detail her character has to now keep in mind throughout all future interactions with the title character.
Even Olympia’s career plotline is full of drama. Her mission to convince Senior that pro bono work can make money means that she has to constantly take on high-profile cases that most of Jacobson Moore expects her to lose. This gives Matlock a legal hook that it sometimes lacks when focusing on Matty’s character alone.
It’s not that Bates isn’t still the driving emotional force behind the series, but Olympia has turned out to be a much more motivating reason to watch than at least some might have initially expected. Matlock is almost certain to continue earning Emmy nominations in the future. At some point, Marshall’s name deserves to be among them.
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