Case reopened: The unexpected story behind the making of “Suits LA”

There's a goddamn "goddamnit czar" on Suits LA. 

"We are limited to three 'goddamnits' per episode," series creator Aaron Korsh says of NBC's rules on how much his upcoming Suits spinoff can use the original law drama's favorite expletive in all its forms. (Suits averaged five times per episode — and once infamously reached 17(!) — when it aired on USA Network.) "Having it be on a [broadcast] network as opposed to basic cable, we had to make some changes," Korsh explains, speaking to Entertainment Weekly just days ahead of his first day filming the new series in Los Angeles after shooting the pilot in Vancouver. "They cannot curse, they can't say 's---,' they can't say 'f---.' So you will hear some 'goddamnits,' but you won't hear as many as you heard [on Suits]."

"And they're all reserved for me," Suits LA star Stephen Amell tells EW with a grin, sitting on set in his fake law office's conference room in early December. "I was actually filming a scene the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and we had a couple of takes where there was no 'goddamn,' and I threw in a 'goddamn,'" he adds. "I noticed that on the original, I liked it a lot — if you're not going to lean into it, what are you going to do?"

Related: First Suits L.A. teaser trailer delivers major nostalgia for original series (exclusive)

To borrow a favorite line from Suits' legal shark Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht): You're goddamn right. Suits LA (premiering Feb. 23 at 9 p.m. ET/PT) only exists because the original Suits became one of the hottest things in pop culture in 2023 — four years after it ended — thanks to the series becoming available to stream on Netflix. To absolutely everyone's surprise, the drama about a con man with a photographic memory (Patrick J. Adams) posing as a Harvard-educated lawyer at a top New York City firm smashed streaming records for months on end (Nielsen reported U.S. viewers watched 57.7 billion minutes in 2023, making it the most-viewed series on streaming that year). Suddenly Suits was bigger than it ever was during its original nine-year run, so you bet your ass the creator leaned into the unexpected resurgence by developing a new show set in the same universe... albeit one in which the characters can't actually say "you bet your ass."

Once again written and executive produced by Korsh (who recently signed an overall deal with Universal Content Productions), Suits LA follows a new group of ambitious (and attractive) lawyers led by Ted Black (played by Arrow and Heels alum Amell). The former federal prosecutor from New York has reinvented himself as a powerful entertainment lawyer representing some of Hollywood’s most A-list clients, including Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Denzel Washington. ("Denzel, open invitation [to cameo], you heard it here first," Amell says with a laugh before revealing that Washington did actually give Suits LA permission to create a photo of him sitting courtside with Ted at a basketball game to use on set. "That's a good sign, but I think [the jump from] photo to cameo is a stretch.")

"The original Suits was a dual lead show with Harvey and Mike, and this is a single lead with an ensemble," Korsh explains. Ted works side-by-side with his best friend, criminal lawyer Stuart Lane (The Walking Dead's Josh McDermitt), whom he started the Black Lane firm with 15 years ago. They oversee promising protégés Rick Dodson (Bryan Greenberg) and Erica Rollins (Lex Scott Davis), who are both vying for the company's coveted title of head of entertainment. Loyalties will be tested, romantic tension will burn, emotional bombs will be dropped, files will be thrown onto desks, and, of course, cases will be argued and closed in the titular corporate fashion. 

Related: See John Amos in his final role, playing himself on the pilot of Suits: L.A.

But despite its built-in, newly expanded audience and obvious potential, Suits LA was actually created as a completely different show. "I had written the script that is now Suits LA during the pandemic, and it was not originally in the Suits universe," Korsh reveals. "It was originally meant to be a new universe [about] agents in Hollywood." NBC passed on developing that show. But then Suits hit Netflix, and everything changed.

The creator first realized something big was happening when he started getting messages from people he hadn't heard from in years saying their child or brother or mother or [insert family member or random acquaintance here] was binge-watching Suits. "Once it was the seventh or eighth text I got within two weeks, I was like, 'This is a weird coincidence,'" Korsh says with a laugh.

The Suits resurgence hit its peak during the writers' and actors' strikes last year. And once the strikes ended, Korsh finally got the call from NBC he had been expecting: "They were like, 'Look, if we bring this script into the Suits universe, we can do it,'" Korsh says. "And I thought it was a great idea." With a little creative editing, he changed the characters from agents to lawyers, and Suits LA was born.

Related: Patrick J. Adams says Suits walked 'so that Succession could run'

It was a rollercoaster, but one Korsh had ridden before. The creator had just started his writing career when he wrote the Suits pilot as a “spec script” solely to help him get a job on any show that would hire him. "I didn't even write it to sell it, let alone get it made into a series, let alone have it remade in five or six languages, and now we're doing this [spinoff]," he says.

At the time, Korsh had written what he knew: "Because I had been an investment banker, the characters were actually investment bankers," he reveals. But when, to his shock, USA Network was interested in developing his Suits pilot, they asked him to make the series a procedural. Ultimately Korsh felt a law office was a better fit for that premise, and looking back on it now, he says, "The show benefited from it originally being investment bankers, because I combined their roles into a hybrid of what lawyers do and what investment bankers do, therefore the original Suits was a different kind of law show. In [Suits LA], I was originally setting out to make a show about agents, and now I'm making a show about lawyers — so it's going to make it a very different kind of law show again."

A new legal team suits up

Right now, the cast of Suits LA is struggling... ironically, with their suits. At their EW cover shoot, the actors are suiting up in their characters' clothes, but unlike their onscreen alter egos, it's not yet a natural fit. Greenberg attempts to knot his tie five times before costumer Jocelyn Kuan steps in. McDermitt buttons and rebuttons the vest of his three-piece suit multiple times while looking in the mirror and brushing his beard. Davis was filming late the night before, so she's still waking herself up while finishing getting ready in her trailer. And Amell slides his phone in his pants pocket only to realize the bottom is cut open, so his phone drops down to his shoe.

When audiences meet Amell's Ted Black in the Suits LA premiere, he's also struggling — but not with pocketless pants. "He is struggling as a leader," Amell says as he leans back in his chair just outside of Ted's swanky office, wearing personalized black Crocs that he knows Ted would never be caught dead in. "Sometimes he can get so driven and so focused on what's in front of him or the next battle to win that he loses sight of his relationships with the people closest to him, and that's what really manifests in the pilot."

Amell teases that, while the show begins with Ted in a "very, very solid relationship with two of his closest people at his firm, by the end they are elsewhere." McDermitt adds that the firm is also at a "breaking point," and his character, Stuart, is "right in the middle of it." While Ted and Stuart are lifelong friends ("They’re really more like brothers," McDermitt says), conflict over the legacy of their business leads to conflict between the two partners. "Ted doesn't think that there's anything wrong with their relationship at all — I think Stuart might disagree," Amell teases.

Meanwhile, there's another banter-filled inter-office political war going on between the firm's promising up-and-comers Rick and Erica. Greenberg describes Rick as "the moral compass of the show" — a role he knows well after playing many similar characters throughout his career, including One Tree Hill fan-favorite teen heartthrob Jake Jagielski. "I'm such an a--hole in real life — I'm just a great actor, I guess," he jokes about his "good guy" trend. But with Suits LA, Greenberg's finally playing a grown man, and he's enjoying portraying Rick's struggle "to keep his integrity in a town of snakes, and his morality in the most immoral business." The actor thinks Rick is also "fighting for Ted's soul as well — because he could go either way." Amell agrees: "Ted's very much looking to win at all costs, and Rick is looking to win, but maybe not at all costs. That comes back to bite [Ted], in the case of Rick."

Related: Patrick J. Adams says it was 'clear' Meghan Markle would join Suits after chemistry read: 'She crushed it'

Rick's main competition at the firm is Erica. They begin the season at the same level in the office hierarchy, but they're jockeying for the same promotion, and Greenberg calls their rivalry "juicy, combative, and playful." Davis says Erica, whom she describes as "brilliant, savvy, witty, and loyal," firmly believes she's better for the job. "If he gets it, she believes he only got it because he's a man," she explains. "Erica is fighting for the things that she deserves in this male-dominated space — she's playing hardball with the guys, for sure." The L Word: Generation Q alum loves bringing Erica's calculated and meticulous "code-switching" to life, and how her wardrobe, as the only female series regular, visually represents Erica's constant battle to be seen as one of (and better than) the guys with a combination of masculine and feminine pieces.

The Suits LA stars have watched a varying amount of Suits episodes, and while Davis says she "pulled inspiration from the original ladies," she's always conscious about not making Erica a "caricature of something that has already been done." The rest of the cast feels the same: Greenberg watched the pilot before he auditioned, and then decided to not watch any more episodes. "I don't want to do what they did — I want this to be our own show," he says.

This isn’t the first attempt at a Suits spinoff. But Korsh has already learned what not to do when expanding the universe, after Pearson — with original series star Gina Torres bringing her titular boss to the dark world of Chicago politics — was canceled after only 10 episodes in 2019. That series debuted as a backdoor pilot in the Suits season 7 finale, but "it took the network a year to commit to making Pearson, so it ended up being a year and a half between the air date of the original embedded pilot and the second episode," Korsh explains as one reason why it failed. Even more importantly, "we didn't embrace its similarities to the original Suits," he says. "We made a conscious decision to try to distinguish it in tone. I think the fans were like, 'This isn't Suits. This is darker and not as funny.'"

McDermitt doesn’t think that will be an issue with Suits LA. The actor made it through the first season of Suits in a binge-watch before he even knew that this new spinoff was in development, and he says that reading the pilot script felt like he was enjoying another episode, just with different characters. That said, familiar faces will return. "As the series goes, you're going to discover that there is some crossover with the history of the characters in this show and some of the Suits characters," Korsh says.

One of those characters has already teased his highly anticipated return to the franchise. Last month, in a not-so-cryptic Instagram video set to the original Suits theme song, Macht showed off Harvey's monogrammed shirt sleeve before literally stepping into the character’s designer shoes again. He captioned the post, "When an old friend is in need ... it's time to take care of things and make those very 'things' right." Amell seemingly confirmed Macht's appearance in the spinoff by commenting on the post, "The Bat Signal does work!!" — but it's more than a cameo. NBC now confirms to EW that Macht is a recurring guest star, and Korsh reveals that the Suits crossover will first be teased with "a big hint" in the premiere.

Related: Gabriel Macht teases return as Harvey Specter on Suits L.A.: 'Time to take care of things'

"You'll notice behind the desk that there's a picture of a young Ted Black with what can only be a young Harvey Specter, so there's clearly a history between the characters. We came up together in the D.A.'s office," Amell explains of Macht's role. "I am very much a fan of his character and I think that that dynamic is something the viewers will really enjoy."

While Suits LA also reunites many of the behind-the-scenes crew — including writers, producers, and directors — Korsh says he had no desire to make it "Suits season 10"... though he acknowledges that's what some fans may want. "While at some point we might do a Suits movie and that could be fun, for the most part, I finished telling the story of those characters," he says. "But I wasn't able to finish saying what I wanted to say about the Suits universe, so this is meeting a whole new group of characters and exploring their dynamics and their passions and their fears and their hopes and their dreams. It's fun going back to the beginning of something again."

This time, no one's pretending to be a lawyer, but there's still a secret being kept from the other characters. "Ted Black has a past — something happened that made him move out to LA and become an entertainment lawyer," Korsh says. While viewers knew Mike's secret from the start, Ted’s past in New York (which lines up with the beginning of Suits) is a mystery that will be revealed over the course of the first season through flashbacks. Expect "five to 10 percent of the show" to take place in the past, says the showrunner, which "gives the show a different flavor" than the original.

Arrow alum Amell knows a thing or two about telling a story across two timelines via flashbacks, given his eight-season run as DC Comics character Oliver Queen a.k.a. the Green Arrow. When asked about the parallels between his new and former roles, he laughs. "Aside from the fact that we shot the pilot in Vancouver [where Arrow was filmed] and the first scene that I shot was with the guy that had a huge arc as a prison guard on Arrow? It does feel a bit similar," Amell agrees. Not to mention Arrowverse villain Matt Letscher is playing Ted’s father. ("When I heard Matt Letscher was playing my father, I knew immediately — he had to be evil," Amell says.)

Related: Sarah Rafferty on getting Meghan Markle to appear on Suits rewatch podcast: 'Everybody's invited'

Thankfully, the actor has avoided cumbersome flashback wigs on this series... so far, at least. "They tried, for a brief moment in the pilot. 'Should you have sideburns?'" he recalls. "I went to the director, Victoria [Mahoney], 'I'm dying in these things,' and she just went, 'Say less,' and peeled them off. So no wigs, no beards. I work at a federal level in the flashbacks, so I'm not in as nice [of] suits. But Ted is broken from this whole other life and personal situation that he shares with literally no one."

That sounds heavy, but Amell promises that Suits LA is, most importantly, all about having fun. "Are there serious subject matters in Suits LA? Yeah," he acknowledges. "There's the death of a parent, serious criminal activity, a murder trial, betrayal. But there's also fun, and entertainment, and fashion, and inside jokes for people that live in Los Angeles."

But what about romance? Suits was known for its two main slow-burn, will-they-won't-they relationships (and one mysterious can opener): Harvey and Donna (Sarah Rafferty), and Mike and Rachel (played by Meghan Markle before she married Prince Harry and became the Duchess of Sussex). So will Suits LA bring the proverbial heat in that department as well? "Yeah — spoiler alert," Amell deadpans before adding with a laugh, "All the time, with everyone. Everyone's in play."

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Davis agrees — especially when it comes to her character's potential love interests. "It's possible to see something romantic with Erica and just about everybody in this show — she's just that person," the actor says. "I asked our creator, Aaron, and he's like, 'I don't know. We're all going to find out together.'"

Thankfully, Suits LA wastes no time in getting to the good stuff. "We set up in the pilot some will-they-won't-they," Korsh reveals. "And then, over the course of the first few episodes, there's a triangle. There's a separate will-they-won't-they, there's a separate 'have-they?' — we set up all these dynamics. I don't know if they'll be as slow-burny as the original Suits, should we be so lucky to last that long."

Only time (and seemingly ratings) will tell how long Korsh has to tell his Suits LA story — though he's setting his sights higher than simply matching the original series' nine-year run. "When I first started writing, what defined success for me would've just been getting on a writing staff, and I've gone so far beyond that it's crazy," the creator says. "But now my definition of success is: If I don't create a character that changes the makeup of the British royal family, I feel like I failed." That’s a goddamn high bar to set — but you bet your ass he's done it before.

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Directed by Alison Wild + Kristen Harding

Photography by Isaac Anthony

Motion - DP: Sade Ndya; 1st AC: Lauren Peele; 2nd AC: Reese Pitts; Gaffer: Vassily Maximillian; Best Electric: Vishesh Pires; SLT: Kunle Bagot; Key Grip: Shun Goldin; Best Grip: Jeff Baker

Production - Production Design: Luis Gonzalez, Rene Ureno, Johannas "Joe" Grandia, Chris Marquez/Wooden Ladder; Costume Designer: Jolie Andreatta

Set Costumers: Jocelyn Kuan, Maddy Meyburgh, Jesus Fontana, Chris Harris; Makeup Department Head/Designer: Tym Shutchai Buacharern; Assistant Makeup Department Head: Sivina Knight; Key Makeup: Michele Lewis; Additional Makeup: Lisa Bouno; Hair Department Head/Designer: Jeanie Duronslet; Assistant Hair Department Head: Sheena Franks; Key Hair: Amber Hamilton; Additional Hair: Raz Rivera

Photo - 1st Assistant: Bryan Lynn; 2nd Assistant: Sepehr Zamani; Digital Tech: James Armas

Post-Production - Color Correction: Nate Seymour/TRAFIK; Design: Chuck Kerr; VFX: Mark Branton; Score: Christopher Tyng

Video Interview - Director: Juliet Lopez; Associate Producer: Salem Daniel; DP: Eric Longden; Camera Operator: Ricki Bedenbaugh; Sound: Edwardo Guzman; Editor: Paul Isakson

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