Suits creator’s new LA-based legal drama lands pilot order at NBC – but will Meghan Markle return for shock spin-off?
New Suits spin-off Suits: LA has landed a pilot order at NBCUniversal.
The new drama from Suits creator Aaron Korsh tells the tale of the life and loves of toilers in a Hollywood law firm – after the huge renewed success of the original series which starred Meghan Markle and ran from 2011-2019.
Suits: LA will follow Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York, who has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles, with production slated to start in Vancouver in late March, per Variety.
A synopsis reads: ‘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.
New Suits spin-off Suits: LA has landed a pilot order at NBCUniversal – so will Meghan Markle be back? (pictured with Patrick J. Adams in Suits)
‘All of this is going on while events from years ago slowly unravel that led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved.’
No lead star has been announced for the new series as yet. Korsh serves as writer and executive producer alongside David Bartis and Dog Liman for Hypnotic, and Gene Klein.
Victoria Mahoney will direct the pilot.
Korsh has created a character, Erica, who appears tailor-made to be played by Meghan.
Erica is an African-American career-focused Californian girl in her 30s who is ‘smarter than everyone’ and enjoys an eventful personal life.
Some think that Korsh, who came to Meghan’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, may be trolling his former friend and associate with the character. Others believe that this is an attempt to entice Meghan back to acting, which would be a global coup.
Suits star Patrick J. Adams, Gina Torres, Sarah Rafferty and Gabriel Macht recently reunited at the Golden Globes – however the Duchess of Sussex has repeatedly said that she doesn’t want to return to her acting career and was not part of the reunion.
Suits has won over a new legion of fans as of late after it became available for streaming on Netflix in 2023.
It became an unlikely hit of the summer after it was axed in 2019.
Suits originally aired from 2011 to 2019 and starred Adams as the rising star of a New York law firm.
He ended up marrying paralegal Rachel Zane, played by Markle.
Suits star Patrick J. Adams, Gina Torres, Sarah Rafferty and Gabriel Macht recently reunited at the Golden Globes – however the Duchess of Sussex has repeatedly said that she doesn’t want to return to her acting career and was not part of the reunion
Adams was among cast members who came to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry but the friendship didn’t last. Meghan is pictured here on Suits with Rick Hoffman and Amy Acker
Adams was among cast members who came to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry but the friendship didn’t last.
He said in 2020: ‘After our children were born, there were some texts sent and gifts sent, but I guess I’m a little scared.
‘I think it’s pure fear. I guess I’m scared about the idea of breaking through whatever walls exist to have that conversation. Quite frankly, I think I’m intimidated. I have no doubt I could pick up the phone and call her at any moment, but I don’t know what I would say.’
Addressing Markle’s absence from the reunion at the Golden Globes, one-time friend Gina Torres revealed that they now don’t even have their former co-star’s phone number.
An interviewer asked: ‘Who texted Meghan and said “you’ve gotta come to the Golden Globes, Meghan Markle.”‘
Torres responded: ‘We don’t have her number. We just don’t so. She’ll see. She’ll watch. She’ll be happy that we’re here.’
The Duchess’s last episode as Zane, a role she had been playing since 2010, aired in April 2018, a month before her wedding at Windsor Castle.
