When it acquired the broadcast rights to Suits, Netflix could expect the investment to be profitable: for about $250,000 per episode, it had more than a hundred installments to retain interested audiences. The lawyer series with Patrick J. Adams, Gabriel Macht and Meghan Markle had also been a success on cable television in the United States at the time. What they found on the platform, however, was a bombshell: the most viewed series of 2023 in the company’s original market.
Now who wants to take advantage of the resurrection of the Suits brand is NBCUniversal, the studio that owns the rights, and filming on Suits: LA, the series sold as a spin-off, is scheduled to begin at the end of March. It will change the New York of the preceding production for the entertainment industry of Los Angeles. And what do we know to date?
Ted Black had been a federal prosecutor in New York but, when he moved to Los Angeles, he changed sides: now he defends the most powerful people in California. When Suits LA begins, the firm is in crisis and, if he wants to get out of the situation professionally alive, he must assume a role that he had always condemned.
The series sells that Ted will be surrounded by people who will test both his loyalty to Ted and to each other, falling into a common mistake among those who spend half their lives at work: they all mix their professional and personal lives. And, in the background, the protagonist will have to face that past that led him to flee New York and his loved ones to start over.
For the role of Ted Black, NBCUniversal, which produces the series, chose an actor with experience in free-to-air television: 42-year-old Canadian Stephen Amell, who led the superhero series Arrow for eight seasons (2012-2020). and, therefore, knows the demands of being in charge of a project with an accelerated production pace and long work days.
Between 2021 and 2023, he also earned the respect of critics by leading the sports drama Heels with Alexander Ludwig (Vikings), a series focused on the world of wrestling.
Josh McDermitt, known for his work as Eugene in The Walking Dead, was the first hired after Amell. His role, it is assumed, is key: he will be the main protagonist after Amell. Like Stuart Lane, McDermitt is the partner with whom Ted Black joined forces 15 years ago in Los Angeles to found a firm specializing in criminal and entertainment law.
Troye Winbush (The Wilds) later joined as an old friend of the protagonist and also a former FBI agent who now works as a private detective. This role is supposed to be as a guest actor but NBCUniversal is considering that, if a full season is produced, it will become recurring.
Lex Scott Davis (Rebel) is cast as Erica Rollins, a promising player in the industry who works for Black and who, as he discovers, adores the most ambitious and treacherous side of the partners at the law firm where he works. There’s also Alice Lee (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) as a young partner at the firm who has to work for Erica. Like Winbush, she has a guest-starring deal, but depending on how the pilot works, she could become a supporting cast.
The latest to join the law firm is Bryan Greenberg, known for his work as the protagonist in series such as October Road or How to make it in America, who will play Rick Dodsen, a protégé of Amell’s character who is clear about his objective: to receive a promotion ahead of Erica, with whom he competes for the position.
The creator of Suits: LA is Aaron Korsh, the creator of the original Suits, which has David Bartis, Doug Liman and Gene Klein sharing executive production on the series. Victoria Mahoney, who has directed episodes of Lovecraft Country, The Morning Show, You and Seven Seconds, is in charge of directing the first episode, which means she will lay the foundation for the series.
NBCUniversal commissioned Suits: LA for programming on NBC, its general channel. So, if you like the pilot shot, the first season will most likely premiere in the fall.
