Fans of Leah Lewis‘ role as George on Nancy Drew will be very pleasantly surprised by her character Sarah on CBS’ reboot of Matlock.
“I joke about it all the time where a character I’ve been playing for four years pretty much just continued her story,” Lewis, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly about the unintentional similarities between Matlock‘s Sarah and Nancy Drew‘s George. “That’s funny that you notice that because that is a very happy accident.”
Lewis has noticed that Sarah is how George “would probably act” if her story continued.
“Sarah works at a much faster pace than George. But when you meet her at the law firm, Sarah is very much taking care of herself and trying to move up in the world,” the actress noted. “And I definitely think that George would’ve been like that.”
Before joining the cast of CBS’ Matlock, Lewis played the surly George on fan-favorite series Nancy Drew from 2019 to 2023. George started as The Bayside Claw manager before becoming the owner and later ending the series as a law student headed to Seattle.
“Nancy Drew was one of the best experiences of my life and I think anytime you’re on a new project, it takes a second to reorient. It’s interesting playing someone who is entering adulthood [like George] vs. someone like Sarah who already is in her adulthood,” Lewis explained to Us. “But George had a rougher edge to her. She wasn’t as intentional with her words or the things that she said like Sarah is. But even Sarah is a young junior associate who is finding her way. But she’s a little past George’s stage when it comes to being an adult.”
Matlock, which premieres on Sunday, September 22, follows attorney Madeline “Matty” Matlock (Kathy Bates) who returns to the workforce at a prestigious law firm where she helps win cases and expose corruption. Lewis plays a junior associate who works for Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) a.k.a Matty’s new boss.
“[Sarah and George] both share unabashedly being themselves. That’s where you find both of the characters at the beginning of each series where they have a lot to learn. Even though Sarah is a bit more mature than George, she still kind of struggles with learning how to get along with other people,” Lewis teased. “Or learning when to say something and when not to say something. Because Sarah can be pretty straightforward.”
Lewis also had to adjust from filming a supernatural series to a legal drama.
“It was a really good transition. I’m very lucky that I was able to work on a show and then stay in the CBS family as well. I love CBS,” she gushed. “I was also very excited to walk into a cast that was a little bit older than what my last cast was. We all grew as a really, really big family [on Nancy Drew] as we were all growing up together in that same age bracket.”
Matlock allows Lewis to try something new with cast members such as Bates, 76, Marshall, 39, Jason Ritter and David Del Rio.
“I was excited to move into a more mature cast and story line. It has been interesting going from shooting in the woods at 4 A.M. and running away from monsters to now dealing with a more cerebral side of TV,” she detailed. “I’m working with mental monsters — as we would like to call it — as we’re fighting off different cases and helping different people. They’re very different. I will say that shooting Matlock, it’s just been a little bit strenuous.”
While Lewis hasn’t gotten a “huge backstory” for Sarah yet, she hasn’t let that stop her.
“I knew coming into this role that she was a very high functioning person. With Sarah, she really struggles to integrate herself with other people,” she continued. “The way that I looked at it is, ‘Oh my gosh, this person is so intelligent and so smart. But yet she has little experience in the human realm and learning how to say things nicely or get the message across because she really is focused on moving up.'”
Lewis’ new gig doesn’t mean the door is closed on more Nancy. With Matlock introducing a new case each week, there’s room for Lewis to reunite with her former costars — and she already has some idea.
“I’m so selfish. I would want Kennedy McMann as Nancy here because she’s an incredible investigator. I actually think about Kennedy and Nancy pretty often while I’m on this show,” Lewis told Us. “As I’m diving into Sarah and how deeply she cares about the cases that she’s looking at, it reminds me so much of Nancy. But also selfishly, I want Tunji [Kasim] who plays Nick there to be my best friend. But I think Nancy would fit perfectly into this world.”
A sneak peek of the Matlock series premiere airs on CBS Sunday, September 22 at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes of Matlock will then move to Thursdays starting October 17 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS’ official premiere week.