New Suits LA Images Show First Look At An Arrowverse Reunion For Star Stephen Amell

Suits LA star Stephen Amell has reunited with an Arrowverse co-star in new images from the NBC series. The upcoming Suits LA is a spinoff from the nine-season USA Network legal drama Suits which stars Amell as Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor who now co-runs an entertainment law firm. Prior to taking on the lead role in the new series, he starred in the DC Comics adaptation Arrow as the titular vigilante superhero. The show launched a universe of interconnected CW series that included The Flash and Supergirl and became known as the Arrowverse.

TVLine has now shared exclusive first-look images from the Suits LA premiere, which depict Ted Black’s father. The character is played by Matt Letscher, who portrayed Eobard Thawne (also known as Reverse-Flash) in the Arrowverse. Letscher’s character is as well-dressed as the title of the series implies, but he and his son have a fraught relationship, as revealed by one of the images showing the pair having a tense confrontation. See the full-size images below:

While speaking with TVLine, creator and showrunner Aaron Korsh broke down how Ted’s relationship with his father echoes the relationship between Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and his mother in the original series. He teased where their tension comes from and the way that it will shape the show, because “I think people’s relationships with their parents inform their world so much.” Read his full quote below:

Harvey had a difficult relationship with his mother, and Ted has a difficult relationship with his father, just because I think people’s relationships with their parents inform their world so much, and it’s a lot easier to have a character that has a flawed relationship with their parents than a positive one. So Ted’s dad is somewhat of a narcissist, and he sort of left their family high and dry when they were young, and [Ted] always sort of resents his father for that. And then when Ted went to law school and started becoming successful, all of a sudden, he was good enough for his father’s attention, and he doesn’t love that.

What This Means For Suits LA

The Mini Arrowverse Reunion Fits The Show’s Tone

While Letscher played Eobard Thawne in nine episodes of The Flash, he never actually appeared on Arrow during its run from 2012 through 2020. However, he and Stephen Amell have previously worked together elsewhere in the franchise, as both appeared in the DC’s Legends of Tomorrow episode “Out of Time,” which aired in 2017 as the show’s season 2 premiere.

Letscher’s tenure on The Flash lasted from season 1 through season 9, though he did not appear in seasons 4, 5, or 6.

While Korsh tells TVLine that he didn’t know about Letscher’s Arrowverse connection before casting him in the Suits LA premiere, his casting does fit the overall tone of the show. While the spinoff is still a serious legal drama, it does have a unique meta element that the flagship series lacks, as it features celebrities such as Patton Oswalt and Brian Baumgartner playing fictionalized versions of themselves. The fact that this casting hearkens back to the lead actor’s superhero past is another way it embraces its status as the Hollywood branch of the Suits universe.

Our Take On Suits LA’s Arrowverse Reunion

It Could Help The Series

Casting moves like this Arrowverse reunion could ultimately prove to be an important avenue for helping boost the spinoff series, which needs to find a way to connect with audiences in the wake of the flagship show’s record-breaking streaming numbers in 2023. Suits LA reviews have so far been mixed to negative, including that of ScreenRant‘s Ana Dumaraog, who said that it is “devoid of the best things that made Suits a fan favorite.” However, by including more stunt casting that hearkens back to Amell’s superhero past, the show could help boost its viewership as it finds its footing.

Suits LA premieres on NBC on February 23 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, followed by weekly episodes on Sundays.

Source: TVLine