Summary
There are several likely reasons for the failure of theSuitsspinoffPearson.Suitsis a legal drama that ran on the USA Network that ran for nine seasons between 2011 and 2019. It featured an ensemble cast that included Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Rick Hoffman, Meghan Markle, Sarah Rafferty, Gina Torres, Amanda Schull, Dulé Hill, and Katherine Heigl. When the first eight seasons came to Netflix in 2023, the show became a major streaming hit, breaking records for an acquired show and racking up billions of minutes viewed across Netflix and Peacock (which had the full nine seasons).
While the success that came four years after the show’s finale was huge, it didn’t extend to itsspinoffPearson, which was introduced via a backdoor pilot in theSuitsseason 7 finale, titled “Good-Bye.” The 2019 show, which also aired on the USA Network, featured a cast that included Torres, Bethany Joy Lenz, Simon Kassianides, Eli Goree, Chantel Riley, Morgan Spector, and Isabel Arraiza. Unlike the successful flagship show,it only ran for one season before going off the air.
Suits' 4-Year-Old Cancelled Spinoff Exposes Biggest Problem With New Show
A brand new Suits series is in development, but its 4-year-old failed spin-off exposes why the endeavor will have difficulty succeeding.
What Pearson Was About (& How It Tied Into Suits)
Pearson Brought A Major Suits Character To Chicago
Pearsoncentered onthe exploits of one ofSuits' major characters, Jessica Pearson. Pearson, the managing partner who gave her name to the show’s central law firm Pearson Hardman, was part of the main cast of the first seven seasons of the show. For the most part, the 10-episode freshman season of the spinoff ran concurrently with the 10 episodes ofSuitsseason 9, though it ended one week earlier than the flagship show, allowing the longer-running show space to wrap up its story without distractions from the monumental occasion.
Jessica Pearson’s disgraced co-founding partner Daniel Hardman was played byBIllions' David Costabile on 16 episodes ofSuits.
The spinoff followed Pearson after her own disgraced exit from the firm. After being disbarred,she moved from New York City to Chicago and became a fixer for The Windy City’s mayor. Although Torres did not appear onSuitsduring the final season, and indeed had a cameo cut from the series finale, the spinoff did feature several cameos from stars of the flagship show. The most important guest appearances onPearsonwere Gabriel Macht reprising his role as Harvey Specter and Rick Hoffman appearing as Louis Litt.
Why Gina Torres’ Jessica Pearson Cameo Was Cut From Suits’ Series Finale
Suits had a great scene written to incorporate Gina Torres' Jessica Pearson in its series finale but had to cut it due to unforeseen circumstances.
Why Pearson Was Canceled After Just One Season
Pearson Only Lasted 10 Episodes
Pearsonshould by all means have been a bigger success, especially considering the fact that it was well-received critically, earninga Fresh 72% score on Rotten Tomatoes alongside an audience score of 79%. Both of those scores landed below all but two of the eighteen Rotten Tomatoes scores given to all nineSuitsseasons, which frequently earned 100% scores from critics and scores above 90% from users, but both of the spinoff’s scores are firmly Fresh in their own right. Below, see a breakdown of the shows' Rotten Tomatoes scores over the years:
78%
89%
86%
94%
85%
91%
100%
93%
82%
74%
83%
80%
72%
79%
Ultimately, it seems thatthe factor that doomedPearsonwas its ratingsrather than anything to do with the show’s quality or how it was received. PerTVLine, the show brought in an average of 513,000 viewers, which was almost exactly half the number thatSuitsseason 9 was earning on average. This was lower than any USA Network drama at the time other than the final season ofMr. Robot(which averaged 360,000 viewers) in addition to its Live+Same Day demo rating of 0.1 being the absolute lowest for the network.
Although thePearsonbackdoor pilot garnered 1.07 million viewers, only .57 million watched the series premiere. It largely maintained that number as the show went on, though it dropped to a low of .44 million in episode 7. The fact thatit never gained viewership and its series finale had just .49 million viewers, compared to the .86 million who watched theSuitsfinale, seems to have put the nail in the coffin for the show.
What Went Wrong With Suits’ Pearson Spinoff
Pearson Couldn’t Recapture The Magic Of Suits
There are several major reasons that are most likely behind the swift cancellation ofPearson. The first is the fact thatit took place in an entirely differentmilieufromSuits. While the character of Jessica Pearson would have been recognizable to any long-term viewer of the flagship show and the show followed her character arc from where she left off, it likely did not feel the same. Jessica Pearson did have opportunities to use some of her legal skills in her new position, but the show was more reminiscent of a political program likeScandalthan a legal drama.
The entirety of Suits season 8 had come and gone before the promised spinoff actually materialized.
Pearson’s debut was also tremendously ill-timed. Because itpremiered more than a year after the backdoor pilot aired, the entirety ofSuitsseason 8 had come and gone before the promised spinoff actually materialized. By this time, audiences may have lost interest in the promise of the show altogether. By airing alongside the final season of the flagship show, it also likely suffered from general fatigue with the franchise. Additionally, it came at a time before theSuitsstreaming successmade the show a household name once again, instead existing entirely during the time of the franchise’s worst doldrums.
What Pearson’s Failure Means For Suits’ New Spinoff
Suits: L.A. Is In The Works At NBC
The failure ofPearsoncould potentially affect the fate of theupcoming spinoffSuits: L.A.The show, which is set to star Stephen Amell, Josh McDermitt, Lex Scott Davis, Bryan Greenberg, and Troy Winbush, was put into development by NBC in the wake of the original show becoming a smash hit on streaming. While it is a proper legal drama, it transfers the action from New York to Los Angeles and so far doesn’t center on any characters from the original show, whichcould be dangerous considering the precedent set by the previous spinoff.
This may be the reason that the network has so far been cautious about the show. While a pilot for the spinoff was ordered in February, at the time of writingit has not been officially ordered to series. The fact thatPearsonfailed to draw a huge audience could be making executives skittish, which may mean the Los Angeles-based show will be delayed in an attempt to strike at the exact right time, or scrapped altogether if interest in an entirely different version of the show rather than a properSuitsrevival never materializes.
Pearson
Cast
Jessica Pearson is a powerful, recently disbarred lawyer who has to adjust to the dirty underbelly of Chicago politics while trying to get her career back on track.
