‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Spinoff Starring Cobie Smulders Fast-Tracked at Netflix
‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ has established itself as one of Netflix’s most dependable legal dramas over four seasons, adapting Michael Connelly’s novels into a consistent procedural hit led by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s Mickey Haller. However, the show took a bittersweet turn in May when Netflix announced that the upcoming fifth season would also be its final season.
Despite this conclusion, the story isn’t over just yet. Discussions about expanding the franchise began even before the announcement of the final season, with the show’s executive producers quietly working on a concept that could extend the world of Mickey Haller well beyond Season 5.
This concept has now been officially confirmed. According to Deadline, Netflix is fast-tracking the development of a spinoff series featuring Cobie Smulders, who will reprise her role as Mickey Haller’s previously unknown half-sister, Artemisia “Emi” Finch. The script is being crafted by ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ executive producers Ted Humphrey, Dailyn Rodriguez, and Matthew J. Lieberman, with A+E Studios handling production.
Smulders first introduced Emi in the Season 4 finale, a moment that intrigued fans due to the limited information previously available about Mickey’s extended family. She has since been elevated to a series regular for the upcoming fifth and final season, where her presence dramatically alters Mickey’s life as she seeks his help to free a woman she believes was wrongfully convicted.
According to reports, Humphrey, Rodriguez, and Lieberman dedicated significant time to refining the spinoff idea before presenting it directly to Netflix. The streaming service reportedly responded with enthusiasm, greenlighting the project on the spot and commissioning a script for a swift turnaround, a rare show of confidence for a character who has had minimal screen time thus far.
If the project proceeds, filming is planned to take place in Los Angeles, mirroring the production style of the flagship series, contingent on the spinoff qualifying for a California tax credit. The greenlight is reportedly dependent on finalizing agreements with all key creative and talent involved, meaning the project is still in its early stages despite the rapid momentum.
Emi holds a unique position within the franchise’s broader universe. Unlike most significant characters in the show, she is an original creation who does not appear in Connelly’s source novels, having been introduced to fill a gap in Mickey’s family dynamic left by the absence of his half-brother, Harry Bosch, whose character rights belong to Amazon’s competing ‘Bosch’ series.
Executive producer Ted Humphrey has previously addressed the comparisons between Emi’s introduction and the show’s inability to feature Bosch, explaining to TV Insider that while there are evident parallels, the aim was always to broaden the world of Mickey’s family and introduce a compelling new character who could stand on her own.
With Bosch already having his own successful spinoff series on Prime Video, giving Mickey’s newly discovered sister a similar platform on Netflix creates a symmetry between the two competing platforms, each hosting a different branch of the same fictional family tree.
For fans who have become attached to the universe Connelly created, a Smulders-led spinoff provides an opportunity to continue exploring that world even after Mickey Haller’s own narrative concludes.
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