The book story underlining The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 has been confirmed after Mickey’s (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) latest twist, but adapting that novel has an added challenge connected to Prime Video’s Bosch series. The Lincoln Lawyer’s characters and stories are based on Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller novel series, following the titular defense attorney, his personal life, legal team’s dynamics, and grueling cases that he takes on. However, The Lincoln Lawyer was given a notable problem to overcome from the offset, as the novels are connected to Connelly’s Harry Bosch book series, which Prime Video adapted into a show in 2014.

Though Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller are half-brothers in both book series, neither character has appeared in the TV show adaptation of the other. Therefore, Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer can’t directly adapt Mickey’s subplots with Harry, and vice versa on Prime Video’s Bosch. Both shows have been able to skillfully avoid including the other brother so far, with Mickey being written as an only child in The Lincoln Lawyer. However, The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 now has a bigger challenge in adapting Michael Connelly’s The Law of Innocence novel, as Harry’s book role has an increased emotional presence.

Harry Bosch Plays A Huge Role In The Book That The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 Is Adapting

Harry Bosch Joins Mickey’s Defense Team In The Law Of Innocence Book

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At the very end of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, Mickey Haller is pulled over by the police and opens his trunk to find Sam Scales’ body there. Clearly, Mickey wasn’t the one who killed his client, and is being framed for Sam’s murder by some unknown enemy. That conflict is at the center of Michael Connelly’s The Law of Innocence book, indicating that this novel will be the primary inspiration for The Lincoln Lawyer season 4’s story.

With Mickey being accused of Sam’s murder, this becomes his most personal and daunting case yet, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his half-brother Harry Bosch plays a sizable role in The Law of Innocence’s conflicts. Not only does Harry have an increased presence in The Law of Innocence, but it also sees greater input from Mickey’s ex-wife Maggie McPherson compared to The Gods of Guilt. Considering Neve Campbell was only in two episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, the upcoming outing may have to adjust the book story to deal with both Maggie and Harry’s absences.
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Since Harry and Mickey are brothers, his role in the book adds a more emotionally charged personal and familial layer to the case.

In The Law of Innocence, Harry Bosch becomes more closely involved in Mickey’s defense as the legal team’s co-investigator. The Lincoln Lawyer’s character “Cisco” is the one who tries to convince the rest of the team to bring Harry into the fold as the co-investigator in the novel, so the detective plays an integral role in divulging the truth about who framed Mickey. Additionally, since Harry and Mickey are brothers, his role in the book adds a more emotionally charged personal and familial layer to the case.

With Harry Bosch being unable to appear in The Lincoln Lawyer, the show will have to conceive a compelling way to replace his novel role. Whether that means getting Neve Campbell in more episodes to help Mickey’s case, involving Hayley more to replace Harry’s familial connection, or giving Cisco far more to do as the sole investigator, Harry’s absence creates a more difficult challenge for adapting The Lincoln Lawyer season 4’s emotional murder case.

The Lincoln Lawyer & Bosch Shows’ Character Rights Issues Explained

Netflix Owns Mickey Haller & Amazon Owns Harry Bosch

Harry Bosch can’t appear in The Lincoln Lawyer because the rights to that character are owned by Amazon, whereas Mickey Haller can’t appear in Bosch or its spinoff shows because the rights to that character are held by Netflix. If Netflix was the studio behind both Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer, there wouldn’t be a big problem in having the two shows crossover. In order for Harry Bosch to appear in The Lincoln Lawyer, Amazon would have to reach a deal with Netflix to license the character, similar to how Sony leases out rights for Spider-Man/Peter Parker to Disney.

TV Show
Overall Rotten Tomatoes Score

Bosch (2014-2021)
97%

The Lincoln Lawyer (2022-Present)
90%

However, considering The Lincoln Lawyer has already gone three seasons without introducing Harry Bosch and has yet to directly mention any of Mickey’s siblings, it seems unlikely that the two characters will get a TV crossover. Netflix has successfully written around Harry’s involvement in the previously-adapted Mickey Haller books so far, and The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 isn’t apt to be any different.

What The Lincoln Lawyer’s Showrunner Has Said About Season 4’s Bosch Absence

The Lincoln Lawyer Has A Strategy To Replace Bosch’s Role

Following season 3 finale’s twist ending and set-up for season 4’s take on The Law of Innocence, co-showrunner Ted Humphrey addressed how The Lincoln Lawyer intends to deal with Harry Bosch’s absence. According to Humphrey, Bosch’s appearance is “not a possibility,” noting that if the opportunity ever arises to introduce the character, they’d have to deal with the issue to “backfill the relationship between [Mickey and Harry].”

Harry Bosch has been portrayed by Titus Welliver since 2014 in Amazon’s TV show adaptations. In the novels, Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller are half-brothers who share the same father, Mickey Haller, Sr.

Rather than get rid of Harry’s role altogether, it appears The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 will introduce a new character to replace his story contributions. Humphrey compared their plan for Bosch to the role of Neil Bishop in The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, an original character for the show who replaced Detective Lankford’s (played by Jamie McShane in The Lincoln Lawyer season 1) return in the book. So far, The Lincoln Lawyer seemingly plans to deal with Bosch‘s titular detective by repeating their past strategy of creating new characters and potentially drawing from other novels’ stories.