A spin-off of the series “Suits” has been launched: without Meghan Markle

The Suits series, which once glorified the future Duchess of Sussex, opened up the possibility of expanding the universe of the legal drama with a new show. It is reportedly already in development under the direction of original series creator Aaron Korsh. The original project ended in 2019. Let’s figure out what to expect from the spin-off of one of the most popular TV series about lawyers – but without Meghan Markle.

Over the past four months, Suits has become the most popular series on the Netflix streaming platform, breaking many records for the number of views on the platform. Now the franchise, which ended in September 2019, is planning its comeback. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the legal drama remained at number one for twelve weeks. This is more than any other project since Nielsen Media Research, the largest independent marketing measurement firm in the consumer goods industry, began taking streaming data into account.

The show took on a second life in the summer of 2023, during a period when fewer new series are typically released, and in the midst of two Hollywood Writers and Actors Guild strikes that halted production and post-production on new shows and films.

The sudden obsession with watching Suits has been linked to Meghan Markle and the news surrounding her and Prince Harry. Note that this was the actress’s last role before she became a member of the British royal family. The Duchess of Sussex played lawyer Rachel for seven seasons before leaving in 2018 ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry.

Series creator Korsh was overjoyed to see his creation find a second life on Netflix, and he admitted that he “always thought they were underrated, but it turns out even he was underrated.”

One of the Hollywood media outlets, Deadline, has confirmed that NBC Universal is planning to develop a new series led by Korsh about lawyers in the spirit of “Suits.” The new show will not be a remake, spin-off, prequel or sequel, but rather a story that takes place in the same reality as the original show, as they did with other popular series: Grey’s Anatomy and Firehouse 19.

Executive producer Gene Klein told TVLine: “There were a lot of ideas for spin-offs that we basically just fantasized about. Like, Aaron and I were like, ‘What about this? What about that?'” Jin noted that the spin-off scripts included “taking one or two characters from the original and doing their own storylines with them, but they just didn’t go anywhere.” The producer admitted that “one of the main spin-off ideas revolved around Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman). But there were other characters that Aaron wanted to move into the spin-off, there were ideas that could create prequels where it would be a younger version, like minor but important characters. There were really interesting, fun ideas that we never took anywhere. Well, of course they can take off now!

The series aired for a total of nine seasons and 134 episodes on USA Network. In 2023, the show appeared on Netflix, where it quickly rose to the top of the most watched films on the platform, reaching a new level of popularity around the world. And the impact of Suits on Netflix gave Aaron Korsh the opportunity to expand his universe.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the new show will be moving to a new location, likely Los Angeles. This means that it is unlikely that any original actors and their characters, such as Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Sarah Rafferty and Rick Hoffman, will appear in the series. Meghan Markle is not expected to appear as Rachel Zane either.

Why did the show suddenly become so popular four years after it ended? Suits executive producer Gene Klein explained in a recent interview with Comicbook that he believes the newfound popularity is due to the show’s rewatchability:

“I think there are two different things going on, one of which has to do with the show itself and the other has to do with the power of a particular platform. On the one hand, anecdotally, people reach out to me all the time, so I know it’s still finding new viewers here and there. But there’s also something about the show that makes you want to watch it again.

There are people who watched all of this when the series came out and find it very entertaining to watch it again and again. And it’s also, I think, a fairly unique show to re-watch. You discover new things. So there’s an additional set of things about the show that indicate people are watching it again. It’s a tribute to the show.”

It’s worth recalling that Suits already had a spin-off, released in 2019 called Pearson, starring Gina Torres, who plays Jessica Pearson from the original series. However, the show was canceled after just one season. According to Variety, “Pearson” was one of the “lowest-rated series in the U.S.,” despite being tied to “Suits.”