David Del Rio was fired from Matlock after an investigation over a sexual assault allegation brought on by his co-star, Leah Lewis, in October.
Since they had already filmed half of season 2 and were going on a filming hiatus around the same time, the show had to figure out how to move forward without him.
So, in the second-to-last episode before the winter break, they had his character depart the show after his girlfriend had a miscarriage.
That was then. The legal drama returns on February 26th, and there will be three new faces in the midseason premiere. They are Sarah Wright Olsen, Edwin Hodge, and Henry Haber.
Today, Lewis shared a photo of her new male co-stars with Kathy Bates and Skye P. Marshall, and they look like they already fit in. Granted, Hodge has an advantage because he is married to Marshall in real life.
According to TVLine, this is a description of the three new characters: “Wright Olsen plays Gwen, an efficiency expert analyzing the firm. Haber plays Hunter, a younger associate from the floater pool who is a total bro. Hodge plays Langston, ‘the kind of guy who can show up late, knowing he’ll charm everyone into forgetting about it as soon as he arrives. A double PhD in neuroscience and philosophy, he is a deep thinker… and a smooth talker.'”
Will they be able to smooth-talk fans into liking them? We shall find out when the series returns later this month.
Del Rio asked CBS for another investigation into the allegations, and he was granted one by the network. The investigation has reportedly been concluded recently, but the outcome has not been revealed.
