Netflix is not only the place where “completed” shows go to be rebooted (looking at you, Suits to Suits: LA) but also where stories that found brief feature-film life go to revive a popular character for multiple aeons. Such is the case for The Lincoln Lawyer, which has long since eclipsed the Matthew McConaughey movie, in which Michael Connelly’s iconoclastic lawyer wheeled and sealed in his Lincoln Town Car’s backseat around the streets of Los Angeles.
The show has been a reliable hit for Netflix, and although the Manuel Garcia-Rulfo-starring series no longer sits on Netflix’s Top 10 seasons of all time list (three seasons of Bridgerton keep taking up a lot of space), the streaming service once again renewed The Lincoln Lawyer almost immediately after the drama’s third season ended with a damning cliffhanger, so let’s review the exhibits on what to expect when up-sh*t-creek Mickey returns for his fourth season.
Cast
Netflix revealed in a press release that the fourth season will obviously bring back Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller. He will have Becki Newton (Lorna), Angus Sampson (Cisco), and Jazz Raycole (Izzy) in tow. And because Neve Campbell has been so consistently well-received as Mickey’s first wife, Maggie McPherson, she will return in every one of the season’s ten episodes (rather than only a few, as with last time) of the fourth season. Further, TV Line reported that Yaya DaCosta’s character, Andrea, will not appear in the fourth season.
Joining the cast is Constance Zimmer as Dana Berg, a The Law of Innocence book character who is a prosector known as “Death Row Dana.” Although she’s a former LA district attorney’s office colleague of Maggie, she’s known as a rule bender, which isn’t great for Mickey as he finds himself on the other side of the justice system this season.
Plot
As viewers are aware, most punchable (yet still lovable) lawyer Mickey Haller had a terrible third season finale when a cop discovered a dead body in his trunk. This put viewers on the hook while wondering if Mickey would truly be on the hook, i.e. successfully framed for murder. That finale episode was titled, “The Gods Of Guilt,” after Connelly’s novel that formed the basis of the entire season. It’s also worth mentioning that The Lincoln Lawyer is one of a seemingly infinite number of current series created by David E. Kelley, who also happens to have recently brought another wrongfully accused attorney to the screen with Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, based upon a Scott Turow novel. In all fairness, however, Jake Gyllenhaal’s protagonist had a larger case of FAFO than Mickey, whose story will now adapt Connelly’s next (sixth) novel in the series, The Law of Innocence, in which Mickey will be defending himself on a murder charge.
Defending himself? More than likely. If co-showrunners Ted Humphrey and Dailyn Rodriguez decide to strongly adhere to Connelly’s book, then Mickey will have already dealt with being saddled with $5 million bail. That could, as with the book, leave him attempting to build his own case from behind bars, but don’t expect his half-brother Harry Bosch (portrayed by Titus Welliver in Prime Video/Amazon’s Bosch shows) to show up like he did in the book. This Netflix series has eschewed the participation of Bosch, so perhaps we will see the return of Detective Raymond Griggs (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) to help Mickey? There’s no telling, but at least Mickey will have Maggie around to help.
While speaking with netflix, Ted Humphrey didn’t drop any clues other than to confirm that Mickey must be thinking “WTF?” after the cliffhanger. Same.
Release Date
This show knows how to fire out the seasons in rapid succession. With the first season arriving in May 2022, the second in July/August 2023, and the third in October 2024, there’s every indication that Mickey Haller will be back onscreen by late 2025.
Trailer
Without a new trailer on the scene (and since viewers likely are well accustomed to the Mickey and Maggie scenes floating around out there), it’s worth circling back to this interview of Garcia-Rulfo discussing how much he enjoys portraying a confident attorney, rather than a narco, as a Latino. May he portray Mickey Haller for at least 10 more seasons.