'Suits' Stars Preview Powerful New Season
With a title like War, you knew the Suits season two finale was going to mean season three would be largely dedicated to picking up the pieces -- and while that is true across the board, according to all of the actors, nowhere is the decimation more evident than in Harvey's relationship with Mike.
"Their loyalty has been completely destroyed," Gabriel Macht told me at USA's Upfront event in NYC. "And in the first episode, Harvey lets Mike go. He's done with him. Yes, Mike asks for forgiveness but Harvey doesn't want any of it. He doesn't want the drama, he doesn't want to trust in him anymore."
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And if you think that will be resolved in a single episode, then you don't know Suits! "There's actually an episode where Louis asks for Mike and Harvey lets that courtship begin," Gabriel reveals! "Harvey gives him away. It's big. It's huge." Patrick J. Adams concurs: "It's a big deal that this trust has been broken, so Mike spends a lot of time in the first few episodes trying to figure out how to say he's sorry -- but, at the same time, he no longer wants to be the puppy dog he was for the first two years. He's trying to embrace the man he's become, so he needs to figure out how to say sorry and become a team again while still being a man."
While Harvey's trust in Mike is shattered, by revealing his legal lie to her, Rachel's trust in Mike has never been stronger -- or more intimate, as you'll recall from that steamy season ending hookup! But where does their relationship stand when season three picks up? "When the season starts, they're still figuring it out," Meghan Markle tells me. "I think fans will enjoy seeing, over the course of the season, if Mike and Rachel can really make a relationship work. I mean, Rachel knows his secret now, all the cards are on the table, so it's about deciding if they want to do this -- and if so, how."
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Mike's courting of Rachel will also hit a speedbump in an upcoming episode that riffs off the classic film, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. "It's gonna be so good," Markle exclaims. "I'm so excited for that episode," Adams adds. "We're not afraid of racial joking, so we're going to mine that and show how uncomfortable it makes Mike. We don't often get to show Mike being this uncomfortable so it's like a throwback to the earlier episodes where he was always bumbling over himself to make a good impression, which is easy for me to play because it's my everyday life."
Let us not also forget that the firm underwent as much upheaval in the finale as the interpersonal relationships did, with Jessica joining forces with a British conglomerate. A decision that won't always sit well with the big boss. "Jessica made a very conscious decision to save the company because she believed it was the best thing for them -- so she's just hoping that continues to be a good decision," Gina Torres says. "But, the first three episodes have already established some seriously game-changing moments, so, we'll see."
Chief among those shakeups is a potential defection by Harvey, who is still trying to get his name on the door. Or, as Macht teases, any door. "There are some backroom deals going on and I think he's absolutely willing to leave Jessica to get his name on any door in town. But, Harvey still wants his name on that door, and he definitely wants to get rid of Darby." Although when I relayed Gabriel's quote to Gina, she laughed and said, "Don't be nervous. He'll never leave me. He talks a big game but he's never leaving me."
Overall, the cast could not be more excited for fans to see what they're cooking up in season three. A year that Rick Hoffman says is "really about trust, distrust, deception and deciding what's more important: loyalty or personal gain?"
Suits premieres July 16 at 10 p.m. on USA.