The Good Wife has only been cancelled for two days and showrunners Michelle and Robert King are already looking into a spinoff. The two showrunners spoke out at a press conference this week to talk about the ending of the critically acclaimed CBS drama when a possible spinoff came up. Here’s what Robert King had to say about the possibility:
What would be fun is to find a way to spin off a [cast member] that wasn’t at the center, who we wish we had more time with. The show always centered around the Alicia character. What’s appealing would be pursuing a different ensemble.
Despite being Alicia-centric, The Good Wife has an amazing ensemble cast which often gets its own plotlines within plotlines on the show. Because of this, there are a ton of possibilities for a spinoff. While fan-favorite character Kalinda is probably out, I wouldn’t mind watching Eli Gold work his magic on a political campaign or Elsbeth Tascioni work her own brand of lawyer magic. Louis Canning is a pretty damn interesting character, as well. The recurring cast list on this series is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen on TV, so if CBS wanted to work some magic and come up with a pleasing spinoff idea, I’m sure the network could.
Despite the fact there are a ton of possibilities for a spinoff, time might be the potential project's worst enemy. TV Line is noting that the two showrunners don’t believe that anything is “off the table.” However, if a spinoff were to come together soon, it likely wouldn't be able to involve Robert and Michelle King, at all. Last month, we learned that the two showrunners were leaving The Good Wife at the end of this season to work on other projects. (At the time we didn’t know The Good Wife was cancelled.) That project includes Amazon’s upcoming project Vatican City and Tony Shalhoub’s new comedy/thriller BrainDead, which is expected to air this summer. I’m sure there are other people involved with The Good Wife that could bring a spinoff to life, but I just don’t see it happening, at least not soon.
Still, on the bright side, because the creative team knows The Good Wife will be ending this spring, the show will have ample time to craft an ending that will be satisfying for audiences. And even if The Good Wife doesn’t end on a high note for the characters, it should at least end on a compelling note.
Tune in to find out when new episodes of The Good Wife air on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET, only on CBS.
