CBS' Elsbeth is getting spooky to celebrate Halloween in the fall 2024 TV schedule, but Carrie Preston's character certainly doesn't look too scary in the first look clip (seen above) at a scene from the next episode. Elsbeth is going full Breakfast at Tiffany's on October 31, with an outfit that's pure Audrey Hepburn. While she and Kaya may have to investigate murder most foul based on the sneak peek at the episode, the actress explained what was "delightful" about filming the Halloween episode and showrunner Jonathan Tolins shared the credit for making it happen.
The Halloween episode of Elsbeth is called "Devil's Night" and will kick off when a party girl (who started out as a child star) wakes up on Halloween and suspects that she might have committed murder, despite having no memory of her wild night. Elsbeth and Co. will retrace her steps to find out what actually happened, and the clip suggests that she and Kaya at least will be on the same page. In a fun twist, the leading lady will spend the whole episode dressed as Audrey Hepburn's cat-loving character from Breakfast at Tiffany's.
When I spoke with Carrie Preston about the Season 2 premiere cliffhanger, CBS had just announced that a Halloween episode was on the way. She shared what it was like to film while dressed as Audrey Hepburn in her most iconic film role, saying:
It was surprisingly comfortable. We did have the costume built from scratch, so it was built specifically for me. Dan Lawson, our brilliant costume designer, picked out some stunning fabric that was very comfortable to wear. And then we had the iconic costume house, John Kristiansen in New York, build the dress, and they worked with me so I could step into it and have zippers that were modular so that I could move around a lot, because I knew I was going to be wearing it for every single day of the episode, all day long. [laughs] So it held up beautifully.
Preston may have channeled her inner Hepburn, but her costume as Elsbeth was probably a lot easier to get on and move around in than the iconic look from Breakfast at Tiffany's! Of course, there's more to the costume than the dress, the pearls, and the gloves, and the star shared that her prop was an unexpected delight when filming the episode:
My favorite part was the cigarette holder, which of course had a fake cigarette at the end, but for Elsbeth, it became a major prop that she could use to point things out, gesticulate, hold, use for comedic effect by myself. It ended up being something that was unexpected and delightful for me as an actor.
Don't worry – Elsbeth making the most of her cigarette holder doesn't mean that the character will be ditching her signature tote bags this Halloween. After all, she carried them through the full first season (which you can stream now with a Paramount+ subscription), so it would be strange to see her without them! If you want a closer look at her full Audrey Hepburn outfit without the bags, though, take a look:
The timing just happened to work out that Halloween falls on a Thursday this year, allowing for CBS to actually air Elsbeth's Halloween episode on October 31. Showrunner Jonathan Tolins also spoke with CinemaBlend, and he opened up about creating the fall holiday on set while filming over the summer, saying:
We're used to things like that. Last year, we did a tennis tournament in the middle of winter. We had people in coats and steam coming out, and we made it an indoor tennis tournament. It's very odd. [laughs] We have to pretend. We also did some golf scenes when it was very cold out. Halloween wasn't so bad, because we just put people in costumes. It gets hard when you have to figure out, 'Well, all the trees still have leaves on them and are we saying it's Christmas?' But we have an incredible design team, and they work miracles.
It seems unlikely that all of the Elsbeth characters will be dressing up in the Halloween episode, since it's hard to imagine Captain Wagner at least selecting a costume for any festivities. The showrunner did confirm that the leading lady will be wearing the Hepburn look from start to finish:
Elsbeth does spend the entire episode in costume, and it all takes place in one day... dressed as a favorite character from a movie about New York.
There are many great movies set in New York City, but is there one that really fits with Elsbeth's vibe more than Breakfast at Tiffany's? Jonathan Tolins shared the thought that went into choosing the Audrey Hepburn look for the Halloween episode, and it's fairly straightforward. He told me:
We say that it's the movie that made Elsbeth fall in love with New York.
Fortunately, the wait to see just how Elsbeth Tascioni celebrates the spookiest day of the year is nearly over. You can find the Halloween episode of Elsbeth on Thursday, October 31 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, immediately following a new episode of Kathy Bates' Matlock. The fourth season of Ghosts is set to premiere that night as well, immediately following Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage.