Is the ‘L.A. Law’ Sequel Still Happening?
We’d heard ABC could be bringing back Steven Bocho’s L.A. Law a while ago, but no word since. So what’s going on?
In December 2020, it was first reported that Blair Underwood could be reprising his role as attorney Jonathan Rollins, but the sequel remains in the developmental stage. Bocho’s son, Jesse Bocho, director and executive producer provided an update during the Television Critics Association press tour while discussing his upcoming Doogie Kamealoha M.D. for Disney+.
“We are working with brilliant, brilliant people and I think we’re going to get it to the world,” Jesse Bocho, who is set to serve as an executive producer on the potential revival, said (via Deadline). They’re reportedly waiting for the go-ahead from ABC to move forward.
“We have a fantastic director-producer in Anthony Hemingway and a marvelous writer, Marc Guggenheim, who came to us on LA Law,” Dayna Bochco, Steven’s widow, added. “The amount of respect and knowledge, in this case Marc Guggenheim could actually name the number of the episode… We’ve been very privileged, very lucky, and I just know Steven’s looking down on us going, ‘go kids, get it done.'”
The eight seasons of the original LA Law (1986 to 1994), created by Steven Bocho and Terry Louise Fisher, followed the lawyers at the firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak. Their cases involved issues such as capital punishment, abortion, racism, homophobia, and sexual harassment. Underwood is the only cast member from the original series attached to the potential new series, though others could appear.
“For all those LA LAW fans from back in the day… We are working on something new for ya,” Underwood wrote on Instagram while sharing the news back in December. “I’ll definitely keep you posted!”
In the new series, “the venerable law firm of McKenzie Brackman reinvents itself as a litigation firm specializing in only the most high-profile, boundary-pushing and incendiary cases,” according to the logline. Rollins would be more conservative (instead of idealistic) and “clash with millennial JJ Freeman to decide the best path forward for the firm to effect political and legal change.”
