Michael Emerson opens up about the one thing that truly scared him while working alongside wife Carrie Preston on Elsbeth

Michael Emerson is no stranger to playing complex characters. But his latest role in Elsbeth is something different. Emerson brings a kind of depth to the role of Judge Crawford that is hard to forget.

The actor is known for his other unforgettable performances in shows like Lost and Person of Interest.

Elsbeth shows the ability of Michael Emerson to portray someone both unsettling and vulnerable at the same time. It's a character that really gets into deep emotional wells. And Emerson makes sure you feel every bit of it.

But it wasn't really easy for the him to step into that challenging role. There's one thing that truly scared him while working alongside his wife. Carrie Preston plays Elsbeth Tascioni. It’s a moment that sheds light on the human side of being in an intense show with someone you’re so close to.

Michael Emerson on the full-circle moment

Judge Milton Crawford's villainous journey wrapped up in a pretty unforgettable way in the April 24 episode. He wasn’t just a corrupt judge. He was a killer even as a teenager. He murdered a girl who rejected him. And he even framed Delia for Andy’s murder.

Elsbeth wasn’t going to let him get away with it. Delia showed up with a gun and shot him dead right on the courthouse steps just as Crawford thought he’d won. But Elsbeth didn’t feel like justice had been served. She realized just how complicated everything really was. Now the whole "good vs. evil" thing has become even messier with Delia's future on the line.

In a recent chat with TV Insider, Michael Emerson shared an interesting tidbit about the full-circle moment between his character and Elsbeth. Their first and last scenes together happen on the very same set of steps. Emerson says:

Those steps are iconic. All great courthouses seem to have a mountain of steps before them. It is because the law, our sense of justice is an elevated thing. It’s high on a hill. It is above the every day, and those steps are also a kind of a ladder, if you will, a ladder to power or vindication or validation. So it’s a good metaphor, and it’s important how they stand on those steps and the things that happen on those steps. Truths are told, confessions possibly. Things are crowed about. It’s good. It gave me a lot to play in this last episode. For him, I thought, oh, this is the best day of his life. He has won on all fronts. He’s just enjoying himself. He feels so untouchable that he can, for all intents and purposes, confess to her.

Michael Emerson was scared of stepping into his role with such little time to prep

In that same TV Insider interview, Michael Emerson explains how Elsbeth Tascioni feels about the conclusion of Crawford's story. He says:

Well, that’s the point of discussion that people will take away from this episode is where manmade justice cannot win, when manmade justice has the right but can’t prevail, are there other kinds of justice that we will accept?

Michael Emerson also shares a bit about his experience working on Elsbeth. He admits that stepping into a big role with little time to prep was nerve-wracking.

I’ll remember it as a happy experience, one that terrified me a bit at the beginning to be thrown into a big role, a leading role without having time to work it up, to just kind of hit the ground running and hope that I find character while I’m running. But I did. I had enough episodes to settle down into it and get confident and comfortable inside the skin of this character to have found this character’s voice and this character’s attitudes, this character’s sense of humor. All of that makes me way more comfortable. And then I begin to have more fun.

All in all, it was full of sharp suits, courtroom drama and a character that’ll stick with Michael Emerson (and us) for a long, long time.

Trending

Stay tuned to Soap Central for more updates and detailed coverage.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback