Sam Richardson joins the Elsbeth season 4 cast as Cody Baxter — a competitive eater whose appetite turns deadly
The killer-of-the-week carousel has loaded its next batch of famous suspects, and one casting choice is so perfectly cursed it deserves its own press tour.
CBS's Elsbeth has a simple, immaculate formula: every week, one beloved actor commits one entitled New York murder, and Carrie Preston's aggressively cheerful attorney unravels them with a tote bag full of intuition. For Season 4, the show has cast Sam Richardson as Cody Baxter, a born-and-raised Coney Islander and — per the official character description —
"up-and-coming competitive eater with a deadly appetite for fame."
A Coney Island competitive-eating murder mystery. On network television. Starring the nicest man in comedy. This is the exact frequency Elsbeth broadcasts on, and Richardson — the Veep and Detroiters vet who won his Emmy for Ted Lasso — is having a suspiciously good month: he's also a lead in Netflix's just-wrapped Nick Kroll comedy A Hundred Percent. Character actors are unionized differently, apparently.
Elsbeth guest stars are almost always the week's killer, which turns every casting announcement into a spoiler wearing a little hat. Consider yourself advised about the hot-dog man.
The rest of the suspect pool
The Season 4 lineup so far, courtesy of a network that understands stunt casting as a public good:
- Nicole Scherzinger opens the season in "Crazy in Love" as Serena Collyer, a celebrity relationship counselor whose "cool demeanor hides a murderous and messy passion," per the episode logline.
- Lea Michele plays Darcy Miles, a "Pilates Princess" trainer who whips her clients into shape somewhat too literally.
- Nat Faxon is Perry Macintyre, the least popular member of the Nickerson Country Club, whose miraculous hole-in-one leads — where else — to murder.
- Nicholas Braun and Jemima Kirke are also aboard, roles undisclosed, and Knicks star OG Anunoby drops in for a cameo.
- Gloria Reuben returns as Claudia Payne, wife of Wendell Pierce's Captain Wagner, as the precinct's family drama thickens.
Season 4 — from executive producers Robert and Michelle King with showrunner Jonathan Tolins — returns to CBS in early October, after the network renewed it back in January in a batch of ten renewals.
Previously we wrote: Production wrapped on A Hundred Percent — Nick Kroll's Netflix cast plays wellness gurus who fall apart off camera
