Stephen Amell to headline Suits spinoff, Suits: LA

Canadian actor Stephen Amell will play Ted Black in NBC'S upcoming new drama Suits spinoff, Suits: LA, as a charismatic force of nature who puts his own needs above others, according to Variety.

Suits, produced by UCP, ran on USA Network for nine seasons, from 2011 to 2019. The series, starring Patrick J. Adams, Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Meghan Markle, Gina Torres, and Sarah Rafferty, resurfaced in 2023 when it began streaming on Netflix, where it topped the charts for several weeks. Netflix and Peacock's combined streaming time has topped 45 billion minutes.

The spinoff received a pilot order from NBC earlier this month, with filming expected to begin in Vancouver in March.

The new drama, produced by original creator Aaron Korsch, will follow a new group led by Ted Black, a former New York prosecutor who founded an L.A. legal firm specialising in criminal and entertainment law, Variety reported.

As per the official logline, "His firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt in his entire career. Ted is surrounded by a stellar group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can't help but mix their personal and professional lives. All of this is going on while events from years ago slowly unravel that led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved."

David Bartis, Doug Liman, Gene Klein, and Victoria Mahoney are the executive producers. Mahoney will direct the pilot.

Beatrice Springborn, president of Universal International Studios and UCP, previously stated that the programme is set in the same universe as the original, with "the same energy and good-looking people that the original did."

"It is amazing looking people in great clothes but at the core of it you can't have a show that's successful with just that," Springborn said in November. "It has to have great storytelling and great character work. So how do you do something that can be ongoing, have a gloss to it and be a continuing series that everyone wants?"

Most recently, Amell led Starz's wrestling drama Heels, which aired for two seasons from 2021-2023. He is most recognised for his role as Oliver Queen/green Arrow on The CW'S Arrow, as well as spinoffs The Flash, DC'S Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and an episode of Batwoman.

He will next appear in Netflix's Code: 8 Part II, which he also produced.