Elsbeth season 1 finale guest stars: Where you know each star from

Elsbeth is ready to close out its first season in a guest-star-packed finale! Here's where you know each big guest star from!

Elsbeth has been a delightful new success for CBS. Carrie Preston reprises her Emmy-winning turn from The Good Wife as Elsbeth Tascioni, the eccentric attorney who's moved to New York City. She's meant to oversee the NYPD but soon gets involved in murder investigations where her quirky mind lets her figure out the truth.

The show is fun in that it's a "reverse whodunnit" where the audience sees from the start who the killer is and then unfolds on how Elsbeth figures it out. The show can have some twists like a recent episode where the killer murdered the wrong person. 

A key subplot is that Elsbeth has secretly been sent to investigate Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) for possible corruption. It looked bad for Wagner, using his wife's charity to accept bribes and funnel money. As it turned out, Wagner was innocent as it was his supposed best friend Noonan acting like he was accepting bribes for Wagner. Noonan was always secretly jealous that Wagner was promoted to Captain over him and hoped if Wagner was busted, Noonan would get his job.

The penultimate episode of the first season had Elsbeth and Wagner setting up a sting to trick Noonan into confessing to his crimes, clearing Wagner. However, Wagner ordered Elsbeth to return to Chicago, saying he couldn't trust her after she'd spent months secretly investigating them.

That sets up the season 1 finale, which has Elsbeth attending a star-studded event.

Elsbeth Season 1 finale guest stars

"A Fitting Finale" has an unlikeable photographer killed at a fashion show with Elsbeth wanting to wrap up another case while still fighting to keep her job. It doesn't take long for her and her reliable sidekick Office Kaya to realize quite a few folks had a motive to kill the guy. 

That includes the photographer's ex, Nadine Clay played by Laura Benanti. The Broadway veteran won a Tony Award for the 2008 revival of Gypsy and has earned another three nominations with a career of Broadway successes. She's also a familiar face for TV viewers with roles on Nashville, Go On, playing Alaura/Astra on Supergirl and currently playing Susan Blane in The Gilded Age. She also became a favorite face on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert impersonating former First Lady Melania Trump. She's got the charm and talent to play the possible killer. 

Also in the episode is Andre De Shields as fashion designer Matteo Hart, another suspect. The Broadway legend was part of the original cast of Ain't Misbehavin' and created the role of the Wizard in the long-running hit The Wiz. With scores of Broadway shows under his belt, De Shields won a long-deserved Tony Award for Hadestown in 2019. He's also appeared in numerous TV shows with an Emmy Award for a TV version of Ain't' Misbehavin'. His charm should be on full display in this episode. 

Finally, Tim Gunn will play himself as a reporter at the show. The longtime Project Runway host should have a good time sending himself up. 

That looks like a great showcase for Elsbeth to wrap up a big Season 1, and hopefully, more fun to come for Season 2.

Elsbeth Season 1 finale airs Thursday, May 23 at 10/9c on CBS.