‘Suits LA’: Rick Hoffman Talks Playing Louis Litt Again, Mudding & More

Here’s mud in your eye! Following the three-episode arc featuring Gabriel Macht‘s Harvey Specter, the smartly paced use of original Suits characters in NBC’s spinoff, Suits L.A., continues this week with the return of Rick Hoffman‘s perfectly persnickety Louis Litt. And it’s absolutely in keeping with what we came to expect from the fan-favorite corporate attorney who loved his cat, wife Sheila, justice, and taking a long deep mud bath with equal (and alarming) vigor.

But given that Louis is such a classically New York mensch, how on Earth does he wind up in sunny Los Angeles? Let’s just say the ol’ fella’s prickly disposition hasn’t exactly simmered down since we last saw him starting a new firm and family during Suits‘ series finale. In fact, his anger issues are putting him on a collision course with L.A.‘s own pot-stirrer Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt), and despite their many differences, a few significant similarities have us thinking that this could be the beginning of a beautifully bizarre friendship. And based on Hoffman’s experience, it sounds like he agrees!

I was so happy to watch this episode and see what they did with you. I was wondering how they were going to introduce you into this world,

Rick Hoffman: Right? Yeah. I had also been sort of curious when they first called me, but it was a really cool idea, and so how could I say no?

Nicole Weingart / NBC

It became so clear, watching the episode, that Stuart shares some DNA threads with Louis. 

I would say when it comes to the anger part, yeah, for sure. It was really, really fun to work with Josh, and we had a great two days. The whole thing was unexpected and it was just great, the whole experience.

And how did Aaron Korsh pitch this to you?

Well, he and I have been wanting to do something since we ended Suits five and a half years ago. And so of course we were in touch throughout the pandemic and during the strike. Then it’s funny, because I hadn’t heard from him for three weeks and I was the last to know about the resurgence of Suits because I live up here in Canada in the boondocks. I didn’t know anything about anything. And then because I hadn’t heard from that, I was like, “Something is fishy.” And then the next thing I see in the trades was Suits L.A. being catapulted into a series order for NBC.

But just because you hear things from people, you don’t necessarily believe all of it. You hear somebody say, “The show is blowing up,” and I’m like, “All right.” But then when you start seeing things like that, where they want to make a spinoff, I was like, “Oh my God, this is for real.”

I have to say, the writers did a great job of filling us in on Louis’ life since we last saw him. His career is solid, his family is growing…and yet he’s still prone to bouts of Litt-icism.

It was really nice. When I got the call from Aaron a couple months ago, he goes, “So what do you think of this?” And ultimately he was like, “I just don’t know how to get you to [L.A.]” And I said to him, “Are you out of your mind? Aaron, how about this? Someone calls my [Spoiler] a [Spoiler].” I swear to God, that’s exactly what I said. And he starts laughing. He goes, “But we can’t say that.” And that’s how it started. [Laughs]

So you did two days on set? Down from the deep woods of Canada for two days of sitting on this luxurious set…

Yeah, we shot about six scenes in two days. One of them was mudding and I had to run the mud meeting with production because nobody — even though there were directors there and people that had been involved with the old Suits — was ever involved with a mudding episode!

Nicole Weingart / NBC

Is it that complicated?

I had to let them know all the precautions and all the safety hazards… how you belt-buckle everybody into the mud first because you float. Whatever that consistency is, you can’t get settled in it. So we had airplane seat buckles in there to hold us down.

Throughout the years of the mudding, the first time when it was Patrick J. Adams and myself, we were in there way too long. Nobody knew ultimately what all the pitfalls were. We never were seat-belted in. They were trying to put 300-pound weights on us to keep us down. Crew members were sweating their asses off, falling in… It was a nightmare. [Laughs] It was like seven hours, but we finally got it down through the years to like a good two-and-a-half hours. That was the limit. And then that’s why I had the mud meeting with everybody.

Wow. That is insane. I was wondering if we’d get some of that, or if Louis had moved on to a new form of relaxation given his success at running his own firm.

Nope, they just were like, “Let’s get the greatest hits in there.”

Related

How the Fans Brought Gabriel Macht's Harvey Back to 'Suits L.A.'

Which is so great. I know Aaron and everybody wants Suits L.A. to live on its own and have its own legacy, but I’m so happy for the fans to get to see you guys again and get those updates because the fans of the original were just so invested and so they were deeply concerned for these characters.

Yeah, no, especially when you’re binge-watching, you’re escaped into another world with people that you care for. I look through their messages on Instagram and from what I hear from fans everywhere, they really grow to care. They think they know you and it felt like such a warm place for them to go, to get away from whatever they’re dealing with. So it’s hard to say, “I don’t want to do that again for the fans.”

Suits L.A., Sundays 10/9c, NBC