After years of guest starring in shows like NCIS: Los Angeles, The Vampire Diaries and New Girl, Stephen Amell hit the big time in 2012 when he was cast to play Oliver Queen in Arrow. Amell played this take on DC Comics’ Emerald Archer for eight seasons of that show, plus various appearances on other Arrowverse shows, then he was tapped to lead Starz’s Heels, which only lasted two seasons. Now Amell has landed another TV gig, and I’m especially excited to see him bring this role to life.
Following Suits’ massive success on Netflix last year, a Suits spinoff entered development, and in January, NBC gave the project a pilot order. Now outlets like TV Line have revealed that Amell has been cast in the officially-titled Suits: L.A. to play the lead character, Ted Black, who’s described as a “a charismatic force of nature who puts his own needs above others.” A former federal prosecutor in New York, Ted teamed up with his friend Stuart Lane 15 years ago to build a Los Angeles-based law firm that specializes in criminal and entertainment law. However, as stated in the official longline, “his firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career.”
Stephen Amell confirmed the casting on Instagram with the below amusing comment about his suit size:
For the record, I’m a 42 regular.
Assuming that Suits L.A. gets picked up to series, this will mark Stephen Amell’s return to network TV. In fact, while I suspect the actor will always be best known for playin Green Arrow, there’s a chance that Ted Black could become his second biggest role depending on how successful the spinoff is. Amell’s other notable credits include playing Casey Jones in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Garrett Kelton in the Code 8 movies, with Code 8: Part II coming out later this month.
Suits originally aired from 2011 to 2019 on the USA Network, but the show was catapulted to new levels of popularity when the first eight seasons were released to Netflix subscribers. Now we wait to see if NBC will keep the Suits universe going through Suits L.A., or if the network will pass on the pilot. The roles of Stuart Lane and the female lead named Erica will reportedly be cast soon.
Behind the scenes, Suits creator Aaron Korsh is writing the pilot and executive producing alongside David Bartis, Doug Liman, Gene Klein and director Victoria Mahoney. Production is scheduled to being in late March in Vancouver, Canada. Of course, if Suits L.A. makes it to air, episodes will surely become available to Peacock subscribers afterwards, and that platform is also home to all of Suits’ nine seasons.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more news on how Suits L.A. is coming along. For all your inquiries related to current programming or shows arriving in the next few months, head to our 2024 TV schedule.
