'The Good Wife' Cast and Creators Talk Dream Guest Stars and Shibari at PaleyFest

The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King joined stars Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski, and Matt Czuchry on Saturday night for a PaleyFest LA panel moderated by fan James Corden, future host of CBS’s The Late Late Show. You can watch it in full above, but here are a few highlights:

Asked by Corden if she thinks Alicia would ever leave Peter (Chris Noth), Margulies’s answer went over well with the audience: “I would truly love to see her leave Peter,” she said, pausing for the subsequent applause. “We have some Peter haters. But I think the only way she can leave Peter is if she can truly find true love.”

She spoke of a moment after Will’s death when Alicia closed her eyes and imagined Will saying he wanted to be with her forever. In her mind, Alicia was thinking, “You don’t waste time on stuff that doesn’t matter,” Margulies said. “What mattered to her was him, and she let it go. And so I truly believe the next time she finds someone, she’s not gonna let it go and Peter’s gonna be gone. That’s in my heart of hearts what I’d love to see for her, because I think she deserves a little chance at real love.”

Baranski was equally insightful when she explained why Diane — who recently made Yahoo TV’s list of the 99 Greatest TV Characters Since Tony Soprano — such a fan favorite. “I just love that she is a character who you see her strength without the bitchiness. You see a woman who has got power and a kind of integrity but isn’t necessarily unhappy at home. You know, so often powerful women or women who are portrayed as worldly have some kind of handicap. There’s something there that holds them back: Yes, she’s in the world but she has an unhappy life, or, yes, she’s powerful, but boy, she’s really an alcoholic,” she said. “I don’t mean that Diane is perfect by any means, but she deals with the world, and I think Alicia and Diane are strong women who have not been stereotyped as women that are victims.”

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Of course the subject of dream guest stars arose: Margulies would love for the Kings to write a role for Alfred Molina and Czuchry would vote for getting Ryan Gosling and Chris Pine on the show. Baranski said she is perfectly content with Gary Cole, who plays Diane’s husband, but admitted she’s always had a big crush on Alan Rickman. “That voice and that attitude. I’d love him to kind of sweep me off my feet or something. A little Shibari there, I don’t know.” (Bondage was a running joke after Margulies said the cast always assumes it’s Robert who writes the kinky sex stuff, and that she had to look up Shibari when it was mentioned as something Colin Sweeney practices.)

The panel was tight-lipped on spoilers: On the impending exit of Kalinda (Archie Punjabi), Czuchry offered only this: “Everybody knows that Archie’s gonna be gone at the end of the season. So with that, there’s gonna be closure in a lot of ways, but at the same time, open up these storylines again.” The only mention we got of the outcome of the State’s Attorney race was Margulies saying that guest star Gloria Steinem told her Alicia had to win — which Margulies dutifully reported to the Kings: “Gloria wants Alicia to win. This is no longer about us. It’s about what Gloria Steinem wants.” And as for Alicia’s love life, Margulies agreed with a fan who said Alicia needed to get laid but wouldn’t say if, when, or with whom it may happen.

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Other fun moments included Czuchry revealing how he first learned Cary was going to jail (“I went into a wardrobe fitting and saw that there was a prison jumpsuit. I’m serious. [I was like], ‘Wait a minute. Where are the suits?’”) and Margulies’s response when Corden jokingly asked her what it was about her that makes leading men like George Clooney and Josh Charles want out of their contracts. “I think I make them look so good, they go off and have huge movie careers,” she said, laughing. To which Baranski replied, “Well done.”

Also noteworthy: Corden admitted this was the first time he’s ever conducted an interview. There were a couple of slips — he once referred to Czuchry as “Cary” and, unlike fans, he didn’t know that Will’s death was a result of Charles deciding not to renew his contract — but overall, it was a promising debut. He was warm, clever, and fully engaged with both the panel and the audience. At a time when late night is becoming less about the actual interviews and more about making viral videos, it’s nice to see someone interested in having a worthwhile conversation (which was always Craig Ferguson’s strength). There’s no other option as a moderator of a panel, obviously, but here’s hoping Corden keeps that priority when he’s a host.

The Good Wife airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS.