What To Know, Who’s Returning (Update Dec 2024)

The Netflix Effect, wherein concluded series find new life to an astronomical degree, could not be better illustrated than by last year’s Summer Of Suits. A year later, NBCUniversal has been hard at work on the Suits: LA spin off, and that optimism has been so contagious that the creatives behind fellow USA Network series White Collar are now aiming for the game goal.

Stay tuned for more developments on that Matt Bomer-starring series, which has also been churning up a steady amount of views on the same streaming service. Not that the amplified appeal of either of these previously concluded series is entirely surprising: stranger things have happened on Netflix (as opposed to, you know, Stranger Things, which will supposedly stream a fifth season someday), but resurrecting Suits is downright heroic from a streaming standpoint. Let’s get down to business on what we can expect, including some good news involving a familiar face.

Plot

Suits: LA will introduce us to former New Yorker Ted Black, and attorney who decided to hop to the other coast and take up entertainment and criminal law. He will be portrayed by Stephen Amell of Starz’ Heels series. His partner (in law, not crime) will be Stewart Lane, portrayed by Josh McDermitt, who TV fans know and love as a The Walking Dead actor whose character somehow managed to survive eleven seasons of AMC’s post-apocalyptic flagship series. Unlike ol’ Eugene, however, Stewart Lane will be powerful, self-absorbed, and an extremely effective hired gun for his clients.

The series synopsis sets the stage a law firm in need of Stewart’s abilities:

Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York, has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. His firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. Ted is surrounded by a stellar group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives. All of this is going on while events from years ago slowly unravel that led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved.

And Ted Black will receive some help from an old New York friend. Deadline first reported that Gabriel Macht is answering fans’ prayers by reprising his Harvey Specter role “in a three-episode arc.” Macht bolstered this report in an Instagram reel from the set, where he was seen slipping into Harvey’s old shoes and a monogrammed shirt with the following caption: “When an old friend is in need… it’s time to take care of things and make those very ‘things’ right.”

Stephen Amell surfaced in the comments to that Instagram post with a suggestion that Ted Black did ask his buddy for help: “The Bat Signal does work!!”

The series has been filming primarily in Los Angeles after beginning production in Vancouver. Those new LA tax incentives will provide a convenient production home base Black Lane Law’s to receive visits from actors who will portray themselves. That’s the case for John Amos, whose final onscreen role will air in the first season.

Cast

Gabriel Macht’s return as Harvey Specter feels natural, and fans will probably continue to hold out for Patrick J. Adams to join suit. Don’t expect Meghan Markle to appear, however.

Once the dust settles from Macht’s tornado whirling through the set, it’s up to Stephen Amell and Josh McDermitt to carry on the central dynamic. It will likely remain wild that McDermitt started The Walking Dead as a total wimp and emerged as a true chameleon of a survivor, and now, he will portray a brash and forthright attorney who now looks like this rather than this:

John Amos will take his final acting turn in the first season, and the cast includes Lex Scott Davis, Kevin Weistman, Rachelle Goulding, Victoria Justice, Bryan Greenberg, and Alice Lee.

Additionally Wendell Pierce has declared that Robert Zane had better be invited “to make a cameo on the show ’cause we went on strike because of not getting anything from that resurgence.” In other words, Wendall wants his cut of Suits mania, and who could blame him?

Release Date

Suits: LA has been filming throughout the fall and will surface through NBCUniversal in 2025. Additionally, the show’s move to California (and those substantial tax incentives) means that multiple seasons will be possible.