NIGHT COURT: Wendie Malick Previews Julianne’s Return as a Prosecutor and ‘Bad Chemistry’ with Dan

NIGHT COURT is getting a new prosecutor when season 3 kicks off on Tuesday, November 19: Wendie Malick’s Julianne Walters, a reformed convict and wild card.

“It’s, first of all, hilarious that a criminally insane person would be asked to join this group as a prosecutor, but this is the magic of television,” Malick tells reporters in the video below with a laugh. (Malick, who guest starred in two episodes in the previous seasons, is now a series regular.) “And apparently I have a law degree, among many other things…I like to play neurotic people, or people who have sort of little glitches in their personalities. And I think of Julianne as sort of a savant: She’s very good at some things, but there’s something missing up here. And I think that my hope is [that] she’s going to be going off her medication every now and then, which will keep things very interesting.”

While some viewers may be confused by how Julianne can be a prosecutor now, Malick acknowledges she felt the same “They came up with the idea that there’s a Project Second Chance for people who have done their time,” the actress explains. “And [Melissa Rauch’s] Abby, having the huge heart that she has, decided that that would be the right court for me.”

Julianne’s new gig will also put her in constant contact with Dan Fielding (John Larroquette), her one-time love interest. “I think we have bad chemistry—but we have chemistry,” Malick explains. “It’s just not terribly healthy, which I discuss actually in this coming season…It’ll be a sort of tug of war between a love-hate kind of thing, where there’s definitely something there, where they connect on some level. But they also both know that it’s probably a little bit dangerous to go there.”

And while Julianne may be reformed, she’s not exactly on the straight-and-narrow. “What I pitched to [showrunner] Dan Rubin was I’d love Julianne to think of the courtroom as kind of her acting class for being a better criminal because she has so much experience,” Malick says. “She could, every now and then, point out what they did wrong and how they could improve it. And [she] also gives helpful hints to people who have to go to prison. I gave a scarf to someone so that you could go to the biggest guy in the yard and have a friend for life—helpful hints like that. I think I could really help out my fellow criminals.”

“I’m hoping that they tap into the fact that my pitch to Dan and Melissa was that I’m like a Renaissance woman,” she continues. “When I was in jail, I taught a yoga class or dancercise class. I’m a really good seamstress, so I made custom jumpsuits for all the ladies. And it’s already been established [that] I’m an excellent knitter and that I could make wine from the grapes. So I think she has a lot of surprises up her sleeve. And maybe I was a disc jockey? I don’t know! I just think that there’s any number of things she could do that could surprise you; that she kind of is a master of all trades.”

Malick is similarly busy: In addition to her new series regular gig here, she also is in SHRINKING season 2 and THE CHICKEN SISTERS season 1. (With all three shows airing at once.) “I haven’t done a sitcom in front of a live audience for many years, but most of my career was spent doing that,” she notes. “I actually had forgotten how much fun it is to be in front of a live audience. And that first time I came back to be a guest on this show, it came back to me: That if you’re with good, talented people, and you have good writing, that’s a pretty sweet gig.”

“They have been so lovely and gracious,” Malick continues, noting she missed three early episodes to film another show. “Anytime I start something new, even though I’m older and I’ve been doing this for a really long time, you still always feel like it’s the first day of school, and you hope somebody will invite you to sit with them for lunch. And they do. And they have from the beginning. They’re just so warm and gracious, and made me feel welcome; every one of them. And I so appreciate that. I always tried to do that on shows where I was one of the original cast—it’s just a strange thing when you come in as a guest…you’re kind of [the] odd man out. So I always tried to make people feel comfortable when they came to my set, and these guys have done the same for me.”

NIGHT COURT, Season Premiere, Tuesday, November 19, 8:30/7:30c, NBC

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