Some say streaming is the death of network TV, but when it works it can allow already completed network shows to find a new life and a widespread viewership that they didn’t have during their original run. No series encapsulates this phenomenon quite like Suits, which was certainly no slouch during its nine-season run on USA Network from 2011-2019 but it took it arriving on Netflix in 2023 for it to truly become a global sensation. So it’s no surprise that NBCUniversal has immediately greenlit a spinoff.
Specifically, Suits LA is on the way. Yes, so it’ll be the same format as Suits but just set in Los Angeles instead of New York. Honestly, these TV execs deserve every penny of their exorbitant paychecks if they can come up with these incredible, out-of-the-box ideas. At least, they know exactly what the appeal is about the first show. As Beatrice Springborn, president of Universal International Studios, elegantly put it when announcing the spinoff’s existence in fall 2023, LA will “have the same energy and good-looking people that the original did.”
Who stars in Suits LA?
Suits LA is set to star Stephen Amell, best known to TV audiences for his eight-year stint on The CW’s Arrow as the DC superhero Oliver Queen. At the time of writing, Amell is the only cast member announced for the series, so we’re not currently holding out too much hope for the veterans of the original show to return. Certainly not in regular roles. Maybe some will eventually turn up for a cameo, if we’re good.
According to plot details, Amell will play Ted Black, described as “a charismatic force of nature who puts his own needs above others.” A former federal prosecutor from New York (and there’s your connection to Suits), Black has reinvented himself as the representative of the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. However, his firm is at “crisis point, and to survive he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career.” We can expect a talented ensemble cast to join Amell, too, as the synopsis teases that “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.”
On paper, it sounds like Suits L.A. has all the stuff to replicate its forebear and Amell has certainly proven himself able to carry a long-running TV series — although the various controversies that have erupted around the actor, including his comments on the SAG-AFTRA strike, have landed him in hot water a few times. But, hey, having a star in the headlines, sometimes for the wrong reasons, never hurt Suits. Can you say Meghan Markle?
When could Suits LA release?
No release date or window has been given for Suits LA just yet, but we can hazard an educated guess. Although only a pilot has been ordered at present, the odds are that NBC will be eager to go the distance with this one. So, assuming that the network likes what they see from the pilot presentation when that shoots in March 2024, we can estimate that production would continue from there and last through the summer. This would then leave the show the perfect opportunity to premiere on NBC in the fall of the 2024/2025 television season. So hold tight and before you know it you’ll watching attractive people in attractive clothes doing their thing once again.