Following the release of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 on Netflix, showrunner and writer Ted Humphrey spoke with ScreenRant about Mickey’s new romance, his undying love for Maggie, and where the story is headed in season 4. Based on the Mickey Haller book series by Michael Connelly, Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer series follows the personal life and cases taken on by defense attorney Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), who famously works out of the backseat of his Lincoln car. In the latest outing, The Lincoln Lawyer‘s main characters face their darkest case yet when Mickey’s former client is murdered.

The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 quickly topped Netflix’s trending titles list following its 10-episode premiere on October 17. A testament to its original concepts, compelling characters, and largely faithful adaptation of The Gods of Guilt novel, season 3 also delivered the show’s highest critical acclaim to date, holding a coveted 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. In the fallout of Glory Days’ death, Mickey’s personal relationships are tested as he works through his guilt over the tragic losses he’s suffered, culminating in a devastating twist that risks upending his entire life in The Lincoln Lawyer season 3’s final moments.

ScreenRant recently sat down with co-creator and showrunner Ted Humphrey about The Lincoln Lawyer season 3’s book changes, exciting new stories for the character ensemble, and Mickey’s emotional and dramatic journey. In our interview, Humphrey discusses the intentions for Eddie’s tragic death and whether they had considered keeping his character around longer. Humphrey also breaks down how that final scene will impact Mickey Haller and raise the stakes for The Lincoln Lawyer season 4, which Netflix has still yet to renew.

Ted Humphrey Reveals Who The Love Of Mickey’s Life Really Is

Yaya DaCosta & Neve Campbell Portray Mickey’s Romantic Interests In The Lincoln Lawyer Sesaon 3

Screen Rant: One of the biggest changes that you guys make from the book this season is the relationship between Mickey and Andy. Can you talk about that decision to depart from the book and give these two characters this new dynamic?

Ted Humphrey: The decision was partly, or largely, because of just what a great job Yaya DaCosta had done with the character in season 2, and how much we love their chemistry and responded to it. We wanted to find a way to keep that character in the mix, and thought that it would be an exciting development for Mickey in his relationship life, and give us a perspective outside our office and what he’s doing outside our main defense lawyer characters.

Andy is Mickey’s romantic interest, but you guys also bring back Neve Campbell as Maggie, even though she didn’t really have that big of a role to play in the book. Can you talk about why you thought it was so meaningful to bring her back for that introductory flashback scene?

Ted Humphrey: That flashback scene is, really, we wanted to start the season by telling the story of how Mickey Haller became Mickey Haller, how he became the person that you see today. And partly to build up how we got to where we are with the character of Neil Bishop. But, you know, to continue building up the character of Mickey and how we got to where we are with Mickey.

And so we thought it was very important to bring Maggie back to see that ever since the beginning of the series, we’ve seen these two people at odds, and we’ve seen the fallout of their relationship after it’s over, and their marriage after it’s over. So we wanted to go back and see this guy and both of them at this happy time when they were younger and more innocent, and they had their whole lives in front of them, and so much positivity in front of them.

It also, in an amusing way, tells the story of how he met the other great love of his life, which is his car. So, he did that as well. But in terms of Maggie, what’s relevant, especially from the standpoint of the Andy story, is that Maggie is the true love of his life, the great love of his life. He’ll never get over her. Especially given the Hayley situation and everything, [Maggie is] his North Star.

Looking ahead towards season 4, without any spoilers, Maggie does have a bigger role in that. Have you guys already begun planning how to bring her back into the fold, and was that introductory scene a little bit of insight into that?

Ted Humphrey: I don’t know that the introductory scene was insight into it, but we absolutely do have a way to make Maggie a more prominent character going into season 4. We do know what we’re going to do with season 4 and what story we want to tell. So, we’re just awaiting the word from Netflix on, hopefully, getting a pickup for season 4. Then we will dive right into that.

The Lincoln Lawyer Wanted You To Love Lorna’s New Job & Be Devastated By Eddie’s Death

Lorna’s Progression Was Natural Due To The Audience & Showrunners’ Love For Her Character

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Lorna goes on somewhat of a Legally Blonde-type journey this season. How will having her as a fellow lawyer on the team change the office dynamic in season 4?

Ted Humphrey: It just gives us more pieces to play with, and we love the character. We love Becki Newton’s performance, and the audience loves the character. One of the great things about doing television and doing things on a recurring basis like this is it gives you the opportunity to write to what people love, to what you love, and what the audience loves, and to respond to what people respond to.

So, as the series has progressed, it’s just felt natural to have Lorna’s character progress in this way. We started it in season 1 with the reveal that she had dropped out of law school at some point, and it felt like a very organic story for us to build over time.

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Mickey goes on a big, emotional journey throughout season 3, and he deals a lot with people whose losses he feels guilty about, and one of those people this season is Eddie. I really loved the character of Eddie, and I know I’m not alone when I say that I was devastated to lose him so early. Even though Mickey’s driver does die in the book, did you guys ever consider keeping Eddie around?

Ted Humphrey: We did. We love the character and we love the performance, but, you know, in part, that was why it made sense to do what we did. I think it was John Wells who used to talk about audience testing of shows, and he was like, you know, the studio would complain that all the dials went down when the kid died. And it’s like, well, yeah, they’re supposed to go down. You’re supposed to feel sad when the kid dies. That’s how you know that it worked, right? So, yeah, I love that you loved him, and I love in a weird, twisted way, that you were devastated. That means it worked.

And, you know, we did create that character. Because, as you say, there’s a character in the book who fills a similar role, but that character, who is a driver named Earl, is a character that had recurred in earlier books, and we never had that character in our show, because we had created Izzy, and we had done some other things. And so we thought it was a great opportunity to create a new character, give him a backstory where he was meaningful to Mickey, meaningful to Hayley, and hopefully meaningful to the audience, and then, you know, be able to have that same moment with him that would have the same effect on the audience.

The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 Will Raise The Stakes To The Highest They’ve Ever Been

“What could be better stakes than Mickey Haller himself facing the peril that some of his clients face.”

Obviously, that last scene in the season 3 finale is a huge shock when you find Sam’s body in Mickey’s trunk. Mickey has already been coming to terms with the real danger of his work, so can you discuss how that emotional journey is going to be built on more through season 4 after that reveal?

Ted Humphrey: I jokingly like to say that Mickey Haller has the most dangerous job of any attorney in America. And you know, the stakes sort of keep getting higher for him in certain ways over the course of the show, both sort of emotionally, dramatically and even physically. We just felt like, what could be better stakes than suddenly Mickey Haller himself facing the peril that some of his clients face? And readers of Michael [Connelly]’s books will sort of be familiar with which book we’re pointing our hat towards when we do that. But it’s safe to say that in season 4, the stakes for Mickey would be the highest they’ve ever been.

More About The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3

Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), an iconoclastic idealist, runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln, as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles. Based on the series of bestselling novels by renowned author Michael Connelly, the third season is based on the fifth book in The Lincoln Lawyer series, The Gods of Guilt.

Check out our red carpet The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 interview with members of the cast and crew.

All episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 are now streaming on Netflix.