Maggie Q reopens cold cases in this spinoff of crime drama Bosch
The sheer number of true crime podcasts and documentaries available is evidence that people love to learn about crime. In journalism, the phrase “If it bleeds, it leads” is a common rhyme to imbue a gripping story with as much detail as possible. On the police side of crime, however, a lot of time is spent on the actual investigation — until, that is, there are no leads left. These unsolved atrocities are frequently referred to as “cold cases,” and the number of them is rising.
According to an April 2023 piece by NPR reporter Eric Westervelt, “The rate at which murders are solved or ‘cleared’ has been declining for decades” and “dropped to slightly below 50 per cent in 2020 — a new historic low.” He goes on to write that “several big cities, including Chicago, have seen the number of murder cases resulting in at least one arrest dip into the low- to mid-30 per cent range” — a troubling statistic, to say the least.
Of course, another ’burgh experiencing a high number of cold cases is Los Angeles. The second-largest city in the U.S., the Los Angeles Police Department — like many metropolitan police forces — has been plagued by a growing number of unsolved mysteries for years. Luckily, the LAPD does have a cold case unit dedicated to getting justice for victims and their families — and that is the subject of Prime Video’s latest procedural: Ballard, a new action series from author Michael Connelly’s Bosch universe.
The show follows titular Det. Renée Ballard (played by Nikita alum Maggie Q) as she commands a new and chronically underfunded cold case unit within the department. Acutely aware of the “poor reputation of the LAPD,” Ballard is determined to get to the bottom of some of the force’s biggest stumpers — as well as a few cases that didn’t get the attention they initially deserved.
Meanwhile, Ballard teams up with retired police detective Thomas Laffont (John Carroll Lynch, American Horror Story), who shares his sage advice, gleaned from years of experience.
“As she peels back layers of crimes spanning decades, including a serial killer’s string of murders and a murdered John Doe, she soon uncovers a dangerous conspiracy within the LAPD,” reads the series’ synopsis. “With the help of her volunteer team and retired detective Harry Bosch [Titus Welliver], Det. Ballard navigates personal trauma, professional challenges and life-threatening dangers to expose the truth.”
While the 10-episode series itself is brand new, fans of Bosch — and its successor, Bosch: Legacy — are already acquainted with Q’s Ballard, given that the character was introduced during Legacy’s third-season finale, which served as a sort of hand-off between Welliver to Q.
“She’s fantastic as Ballard,” Welliver gushed in an interview with Parade. “I rang my bell when they were talking about her. I went: ‘Oh, if you can get her, that’s a home run.’”
According to Welliver, the first time they worked together on camera, the chemistry was instantaneous. “Maggie’s exceptional in the role, and she really gets it,” he said. “There’s a tone in the Bosch canon that needs to be adhered to, to a certain degree, and she got Renée immediately.”
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Connelly — who’s also an executive producer on the series — touched on what distinguishes Ballard from its predecessor, explaining that there’s “a fundamental difference in the characters in that Bosch, whether he had a badge or not, was always a loner. He was an outsider with an insider’s job. And Ballard, by virtue of what she’s doing and why she was chosen, shows leadership skills that Bosch doesn’t have.”
Taking on the role, Q told the magazine, was “a huge responsibility” that she has not taken lightly. “If I inherit fans from the Bosch universe, I’m lucky,” she said. “And if I keep them happy, I’m even luckier.”
Ballard premieres on Wednesday, July 9 on Prime Video