NBC's Suits Spinoff Taps Arrow's Stephen Amell as Lead

Stephen Amell is joining the Suits Universe after being cast as the lead character in the upcoming spinoff series, Suits: LA. Amell will be playing "Ted Black a former New York prosecutor who built an L.A. law firm that specializes in criminal and entertainment law." Black is described as "a charismatic force of nature who puts his own needs above others." 

That sounds like a dynamic role that's right in Amell's wheelhouse. The actor got his big breakout alternating between shallow playboy Oliver Queen and his deadly-intense alter-ego Green Arrow in the CW's game-changing DC TV series Arrow. More recently, Amell led the Starz professional wrestling drama series Heels, which ended its run after two seasons. Suits: LA is a high-profile new gig for Amell to take on – and a career turn few probably expected him to take. 

What Is Suits: LA About? 

It's been confirmed that Suits: LA will be set in the same world as the original series, and original Suits creator Aaron Korsch also created the spinoff. A new synopsis describes how the Suits spinoff will center around Amell's Ted Black: 

"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 stellar 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."

Aaron Korsh is writing the pilot for Suits: LA and will executive produce the show along with former Suits executive producers Dave Bartis, Doug Liman, and Gene Klein. Victoria Mahoney (Grey's Anatomy) will helm the pilot and also serve as an executive producer. If the pilot goes to series, it will likely debut in the 2024/2025 season. It remains unclear at this point if any of the original actors from Suits will appear in the show. 

Beatrice Springborn, president of Universal International Studios and UCP has taken up the description of Suits: LA being  a "prestigural," –  a combination of "prestige drama" and "procedural."

"Someone said [it] to me the other day and I was like, 'OK, I've never heard this before I think that's clear,'" Springborn joked at a UK industry conference last year. She also added that Suits: LA is "amazing looking people in great clothes but at the core of it you can't have a show that's successful with just that. It has to have great storytelling and great character work. So how do you do something that can be ongoing, have a gloss to it, and be a continuing series that everyone wants?"

Source: Variety