Ted Humphrey has learned a few things about
what it takes to keep a successful series going. A former lawyer, Humphrey
worked on 135 episodes of the critically acclaimed CBS show “The Good Wife,”
with writing credits on 19 of them and titles that included executive producer.
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He’s now trying to apply some of the same
magic to “The Lincoln Lawyer,” the legal thriller he created with David E.
Kelley last year, based on the Michael Connelly book series.
The inaugural season, starring Manuel
Garcia-Rulfo in the title role, was a hit for Netflix. “Higher expectations are
a mixed bag,” said Humphrey, 53, who shared showrunning duties in Season Two
with Dailyn Rodriguez. “I’m not always thrilled about them, to be honest,” he
added, laughing.
He needn’t worry. Season Two — which
Netflix rolled out in two batches of five episodes each, with the second half
having premiered Thursday — confirmed that the streamer has a global hit on its
hands. “The Lincoln Lawyer” has been among its most-watched shows worldwide
since the first new episodes were released July 6.
Each season is inspired by one of
Connelly’s books about Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles defense lawyer working out
of his car — hence his nickname. (Different Connelly novels have inspired the
Amazon series “Bosch” and “Bosch: Legacy.”) The new installment is based on
“The Fifth Witness” (2011) and tracks Haller’s efforts on behalf of a woman he
had just started seeing, Lisa Trammell (Lana Parilla), after she is accused of
killing a developer whose plans were threatening her restaurant.
Devoted Connelly readers will have spotted
four deviations from the book in the previous sentence alone: In the novel,
Trammell’s name is spelled differently, she doesn’t have a relationship with
Haller, and she and the victim have other occupations. Connelly has embraced changes
to his work.
“What I am most pleased and proud of with
‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ is that Ted has overseen the updating of 10-to-15-year-old
novels to very contemporary stories without sacrificing one bit of the
character of Mickey Haller and his cohorts,” Connelly wrote in an email.
In a video chat from Los Angeles, where the
series is set and shot, Humphrey discussed such divergences as well as the
secrets to a good legal show. These are edited excerpts from the conversation
and a follow-up email exchange.
Why did you make Lisa a restaurateur instead of a teacher?
In “The Fifth Witness,” the client is a
woman who is having her home foreclosed upon by a mortgage banker in the wake
of the 2008 mortgage crisis. We updated that to something that felt more relevant
to Los Angeles in 2023, which was, first of all, the ongoing gentrification
debates and then the world of foodie culture and celebrity chefs.
Is it also a good way to anchor the show
in Los Angeles without the obligatory shots of the Hollywood sign?
We love to showcase different communities,
different neighborhoods of LA. The restaurant is in a neighborhood called
Frogtown, where some of these gentrification concerns are being played out in
real time. Mickey is a criminal defense lawyer who works out of his car, so you
just have a natural vehicle, no pun intended, for him to go anywhere in any
neighborhood in the city.
Season Two introduces Mickey’s mother,
played by Angélica María. What does the character add to the show?
I saw a sign on the [Writers Guild of
America] picket line the other day that said “AI didn’t grow up with my mother.
Good luck writing that story.” I think difficult mothers are universal and
relatable. The mother in the show is exactly the mother in the books, except
that you never really meet her in the books. She was this actress from Mexico
who met [Mickey’s] father, and it was kind of a May-September relationship that
didn’t go so well. We just decided to take that and run with it.
Angélica María is essentially this character
in real life: She is the grande dame of telenovelas in Mexico, an icon. I think
you do get the sense watching these two people that there is a lived history,
and you understand the upbringing and what this person dealt with and what
Mickey dealt with.
New this season is prosecutor Andrea
Freeman, who has a smoking chemistry with Mickey. Can you please tell me that
Yaya DaCosta will be back in future seasons?
She is if we’re fortunate enough to keep doing
it. Andrea as a character does not continue in the books, but we loved Yaya’s
performance, so we just came up with ways to keep that character alive.
Between “The Good Wife” and “The Lincoln
Lawyer,” you know your way around a TV courtroom. What makes a good legal show?
One, there has to be a gray area where this
lawyer is wrestling with moral choices. Robert King, who created “The Good
Wife” with Michelle King, used to say that the show was about the education of
Alicia Florrick [played by Julianna Margulies]. She got back to work later in
life, so you were watching her grow up and realize all the different moral
compromises she would have to make.
Two is authenticity: You have to take some liberties
because your first job is to tell a dramatic, interesting story. But trials
take a year to happen, and things are really fought out as much in motions,
witness prep and depositions as they are in the court case.
The third thing is that lawyers are people
who have jobs, and their day is consumed with the minor nonsense of day-to-day
life. For Mickey, the life of the criminal defense lawyer is one long search
for income.
If “The Good Wife” was about the
education of Alicia Florrick, what’s the overarching concept for “The Lincoln
Lawyer”?
I think it’s a redemption story. You meet
Mickey Haller in Season One, and he is a broken man who’s lost everything, who
has been humbled by a drug addiction. The show, to some extent, is about his
journey not just back but beyond, and it’s also about him coming to terms with
who he is: this child of privilege on one side and an immigrant mother on the
other side.
What’s next for the show?
Right now, it depends not only on how
Season Two does, but also on the resolution of the strikes. We had to shut down
our writers room for Season Three when the Writers Guild contract expired.
We’ve done Michael Connelly picket events where Michael and the staff from “The
Lincoln Lawyer” and “Bosch” have picketed together. We’re out there because the
issues are real and have to be resolved, and the only way that’s going to
happen is by the companies sitting back down with us to make a fair deal.
Hopefully that happens soon, and once it does, we will be back to work on a
third season.
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