Original Suits star Wendell Pierce wants in on the upcoming spinoff, and he has a three-word message for those in charge of casting.
After becoming the most-watched show across streaming platforms last year, Suits rocketed to success unforeseen during its nine-season run on the USA Channel from 2011 through 2019. Shortly after the show’s “resurgence” (or just “surgence,” depending on where you stand), a spinoff entitled Suits: L.A. was announced. It’s unclear if any of the original Suits cast will travel to L.A. from New York, where the original show took place, but Pierce is anxious to book his itinerary.
“I think it’s the most fascinating thing that all of a sudden, our show got on Netflix and it blew up,” Pierce said earlier this week on SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw. Pierce recalled the moment the cast realized Suits was getting a second life: “We got a text, a chain text, from Gabriel Macht who’s the lead, and he just sent this text to everyone saying, ‘WTF.’ We were all like, ‘What?’”
When questioned whether or not he’d be recruited as a guest star on Suits: L.A., Pierce flatly replied that he’d “better be asked” to return. “I would love to make a cameo on the show,” he added.
Pierce continued: “I’m sure that we will be making cameos on it,” he said of the original Suits cast. “I better be asked to make a cameo on the show, ’cause we went on strike because of not getting anything from that resurgence,” the actor joked of last summer’s SAG/AFTRA strikes.
The protests were largely predicated on actors not receiving deserved residual payments from streaming platforms. When the strike was resolved in November 2023, SAG/AFTRA updated its contracts to establish a “streaming participation bonus,” which compensates actors in addition to residuals that stem from traditional means such as television reruns.
Pierce played Robert Zane on Suits, the father to Megan Markle’s Rachel Zane, who would partner with Harvey Specter (Macht) and his partner, Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman), in opening a new law firm. Though Suits: L.A. is obviously set on the West Coast, the series’ main character, Ted Black (Stephen Amell), has connections to New York law firms which could lead to many a returning guest star.
A premiere date for Suits: L.A. has yet to be announced, but it’s expected to premiere at some point in 2025. Pierce, perhaps best known for his role on The Wire, will next be seen in dueling Marvel/DC tentpoles. He plays Perry White in James Gunn’s Superman, and has an unspecified role in Marvel’s Thunderbolts.
