In season three, Mickey Haller puts it all on the line to avenge his murdered pal Glory Days – by defending the man accused of killing her
Since episode one of The Lincoln Lawyer, the showrunners have been prepping viewers for Gods of Guilt, the fifth novel in the hit Mickey Haller series penned by Michael Connelly. “It’s one of my favourite books, if not my favourite,” says co-showrunner and TV adaptation co-creator Ted Humphrey. “I think season one and two obviously stand on their own as good stories that people enjoy, but they also enabled us to set in motion certain elements that pay off this season.”
And indeed, season three picks up right where season two left off. In the finale, hotshot L.A. defence attorney Mickey (Manuel García-Rulfo) was summoned to the West Hollywood sheriff’s station by Julian La Cosse (Devon Graye), a tech pimp charged with the murder of Gloria Dayton (Fiona Rene), better known as Glory Days — the sex worker who served as the key witness for Haller’s client Jésus Menendez (Saul Huezo) in the first season. Feeling like he was the one who put Glory in harm’s way, Haller must now solve a case that could prove to be his ultimate redemption, or his undoing. “This is the book that has the most emotional resonance,” says Humphrey. “Mickey’s past sins are coming back to haunt him and have come back to hurt the people that he cares about — which is worse in a lot of ways than hurting him. Certainly, the denouement of the story is one of the great dramatic moments in all of Michael’s Mickey Haller books and I was very excited to bring that to the screen.”
But before we get to the case that might break our protagonist, we flash back to happier times between the lawyer and his now ex-wife Maggie (Neve Campbell), when Mickey was just a humble public defender. “Again, it is that emotional resonance, getting into the foundations of who this guy is and who he became, and how, no matter what else happens to Mickey, Maggie is the great love of his life,” Humphrey explains. “That’s very clear from the books and we endeavour to translate that to the screen. This was a way of putting the audience in that headspace.” The show also flashes back to the meet-cute between Haller and the other great love of his life. “The convertible Lincoln is something we invented for the show,” Humphrey admits. “It’s not in the books, but it was fun to give an origin story to that. That’s as important a relationship to him as a lot of others.”
Although there is no question that Maggie will always hold a special place for Haller, viewers will be pleased to see him open up to a perhaps surprising ally. “We love the character of Andrea Freeman,” says Humphrey. “That is a character that comes from the book The Fifth Witness, which we adapted in season two, and we expanded that character a fair amount in the show because we just found her fun to play with. We found that Yaya DaCosta’s performance was terrific and people really responded to it. She and the rest of our cast, especially Manuel, had this great chemistry on screen, and thus we want to deepen this relationship.”
That Haller might find Andy intriguing should maybe not come as a surprise, considering our hero’s fascination with women who can hold their own. “Mickey is a guy who’s obviously drawn to strong women. He’s surrounded by strong women. He’s got Maggie, he’s got Lorna [Becki Newton], he’s got Andy, he’s got Izzy [Jazz Raycole], he’s got his daughter [Krista Warner] — all of whom care about him,” says Humphrey. “For all of his flaws and self-doubt, it says something about him that all these people really care about him deeply.” Not only do the female characters care about Haller, the unexpected bonds between these women is something more shows should strive for. “The relationships between these women developed organically, in conversations with the actors and in conversations with the writing staff and in just deciding what the most interesting versions of these relationships would be,” says Humphrey. “An old writer’s trick is you say, ‘What are two characters that I don’t expect to see together?’ And you build a scene around them. We did that in season one when we put Lorna and Maggie together, two characters that you would expect to be antagonistic.”
While the stakes remain life and death, the tone still allows for a hearty binge. The comedic moments are something Humphrey and his writers believe sets The Lincoln Lawyer apart from Connelly’s other franchises. “The humour is a huge element of the show,” he muses. “A little bit of lightness and a little bit of fun is definitely the special ingredient that keeps our show going.” Having a star who’s able to nail that tone isn’t a bad thing either. “Manuel is really good at the self-deprecating part of the character, for such a handsome guy and such a charismatic person,” says Humphrey. “I mean, in real life, he’s quite a shy, unassuming person, really. So, he’s really good at being self-deprecating, which I didn’t know if he would be. And we do lean into those things.”
The Lincoln Lawyer, streaming on Netflix