Suits L.A. gets Arrowverse boost with Stephen Amell as lead

Stephen Amell went from playing a beefy TV superhero to a beefy TV wrestler and now he’ll be a TV lawyer (possibly a beefy one?). The Arrow star has been tapped as the lead for the highly anticipated Suits spin-off, Suits L.A. As in the beloved (and recently really beloved) original series, Amell will play an attorney with a secret, although presumably his secret is not that he’s not actually a lawyer, as in O.G. Suits.

Per a synopsis from Deadline, “Suits L.A. centers on Ted Black (Amell), a former federal prosecutor from New York, who has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. 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 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. All of this is going on while events from years ago slowly unravel that led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved.”

Ted is “a charismatic force of nature who puts his own needs above others” who moved to L.A. 15 years ago and built a firm specializing in criminal and entertainment law “with his old buddy, Stuart Lane.” Sounds like Stuart will be the Harvey to Ted’s Mike, or vice versa. (According to TVLine, the role of Stuart and the female lead Erica will be cast in the coming days.)

It should be noted that this isn’t a spin-off in the traditional sense (like the one-season Gina Torres spin-off Pearson) “but a brand extension in the vein of the CSI and NCIS franchises featuring new characters in a new location,” as Deadline describes it. None of the original characters are involved, but Entertainment Weekly reported that should the series continue, “a crossover could occur further down the line.”

One might look at Suits L.A. and think that it’s not actually capitalizing on the massive streaming success of Suits. If people like Suits so much, why bring back Suits with none of the original Suits? After all, the cast is enjoying a moment in the sun right now, following up presenting at the Golden Globes with big Super Bowl commercial appearances.

And while all the new (and old) Suits fans would definitely enjoy the gang getting back together, the true lesson of Suits is that people want to watch fun, light-but-still-rich character-driven dramas with lots of episodes. Creator Aaron Korsh has a proven track record for that, and so does Stephen Amell. Despite his questionable strike comments, he’s an actor who spent years on a campy CW superhero series that launched a whole franchise on his back. With those credentials in mind, Suits L.A. might have a real chance at success. Do you think they should cast David Ramsey as Stuart Lane?