Stephen Amell’s Suits L.A. Role Is Combining 2 Fan-Favorite Suits Characters

Summary Suits L.A. features Ted Black, a former prosecutor in NY, similar to Harvey Specter's backstory.

Ted Black is the charismatic managing partner of Black Lane Law, mirroring Jessica Pearson's role.

Suits L.A. will offer fresh dynamics and perspectives while still drawing some comparisons to the original show.

Suits L.A.’s Ted Black, played by Stephen Amell, shares similarities with two fan-favorite Suits lawyers according to the first official character descriptions for the upcoming spinoff. Unlike Pearson, the short-lived spinoff centered on Gina Torres’ Jessica Pearson, Suits L.A. will follow brand-new characters. The spinoff will be set in Los Angeles rather than New York, and it will feature a firm dedicated to entertainment law rather than corporate law. Between the settings and the characters, Suits L.A. is already very different from Suits.

However, as much as the new series will want to separate itself from the previous one, comparisons between the upcoming Suits L.A. and Suits will be inevitable. Hopefully, Suits L.A. will not try to have its own Harvey Specter or Mike Ross and will instead deliver fresh new character dynamics. This does not mean, however, that there shouldn’t be parallels between Suits L.A. and the previous show.

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Suits L.A.’s Ted Black Was Once A Prosecutor In New York (Like Harvey Specter)

Harvey was Assistant District Attorney before properly joining a private firm

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Whether Ted Black and Harvey Specter knew each other is difficult to say, but the fact is that both characters once worked for government agencies in New York before switching careers. While Harvey always intended to work at a private law firm, he spent two years as Assistant District Attorney under Cameron Dennis. Harvey was even offered the chance to build a career in the D.A.’s office, which he might have accepted had he not discovered the truth about Dennis’ methods. Regardless, Harvey eventually joined Pearson & Hardman and grew up to become “the best closer in the city.”

Ted Black is described as a charismatic force of nature with, an expression that also fits Harvey Specter.

Suits L.A.’s Ted Black appears to have a similar backstory based on the character descriptions revealed so far. Amell’s character was once a federal prosecutor in New York, but after years in public duty, he moved to Los Angeles to start his law firm alongside Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt). Ted Black is described as a charismatic force of nature, an expression that also fits Harvey Specter. The first official Suits L.A. synopsis mentions that Ted Black’s past will catch up with him, which is also something that happened to Harvey at some point in Suits.

Suits: L.A. Characters Confirmed So Far Actor Ted Black Stephen Amell Stuart Lane Josh McDermitt Kevin Troy Winbush Erica Rollins Lex Scott Davis Rick Dodson Bryan Greenberg Leah Alice Lee

Suits L.A.’s Ted Black Is The Managing Partner (Like Jessica Pearson)

Ted Black is the co-founder of Black Lane Law

As co-founder of Black Lane Law, Ted Black is a managing partner at the firm. This is similar to Jessica Pearson’s position at Pearson Hardman (which went through different names throughout the show) at the beginning of the series. It must be noted that Jessica was not a founding partner at Pearson, which was once called Gordon Schmidt Van Dyke before she took over. Therefore, while Ted Black shares some similarities with Harvey Specter, the former’s role in the firm will be closer to that of Jessica Pearson in Suits.

Related Suits: LA’s New Character Has A Bigger Challenge Than Its Harvey And Mike Replacements The latest Suits: LA character poses a bigger challenge for series creator Aaron Korsh than the spinoff's replacements for Harvey and Mike.

In other words, Ted Black will likely run things on a macro scale instead of working on individual cases. Although Jessica would often offer input in the firm’s most important cases, most of her work had to do with delegating tasks to the partners and the associates. Given how Suits was told mostly from the perspective of Harvey and Mike, it will be interesting to Suits L.A. told from the perspective of a managing partner from the start. Harvey only got his name on the door in season 3, and Jessica was still the managing partner.

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