How Lincoln Lawyer Season 4’s Major Death Will Impact Mickey In Season 5 Explained By Showrunner

The Lincoln Lawyer has delivered a devastating blow that will change Mickey forever.

Showrunner Ted Humphrey has opened up about how a major character’s death in The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 will impact Mickey going into season 5. The cast of The Lincoln Lawyer consists of a number of memorable side characters. One such notable face is Legal, Mickey’s mentor, who ends up dying during the events of season 4.

Speaking with TV Insider, Humphrey unveiled how Legal’s shocking death in The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 will affect Mickey going into the next season. He began by explaining the importance of having Legal’s death onscreen, as opposed to its off-handed mention in the books. The showrunner also praised Elliott Gould for how he handled his final scene in the show:

That is something that is in the book. It is not done in the book the way we did it. We did a very different thing. In fact, in the book, I think it happens off screen, meaning I actually think you learn about it in a different book where he goes to his grave or something like that. At some point, the Yoda-like relationship that he has with Legal — like Yoda died, too, and then advised Luke from the force or whatever — almost has to take that turn when you have the wise old mentor like that.

But it was super emotional. It was super emotional for all of us. I mean, everybody stood up and gave a standing ovation and cheered when Elliott shot his last scene. It was very emotional for him. I think he’s really loved doing the show, and it’s been such an honor for us to work with him. The look and feel of the show is so heavily influenced by the great California noir films of mostly the 1970s, like Chinatown. And one of them that has really served as a template for the movie is The Long Goodbye, which Elliott was the star of, where he played Philip Marlowe. So, there’s this kind of meta cool thing about having Elliott in the show at all that’s been amazing.

In terms of Mickey’s mindset after The Lincoln Lawyer season 4, he’s going to see Legal in much the same way he sees people like his father and Glory Days. In particular, this means he’ll consider his mentor as someone in his past who’s shaped him immensely, and someone he’ll always think about as he continues his work defending the innocent:

I think that is going to weigh on him going forward in ways that are inevitably going to come to pass. I think back to the episode “Ghosts” in Season 3 where his dad [Jon Tenney] is sitting in the back of his car, and then Glory Days [Fiona Rene] is sitting in the back of his car. Legal has joined that pantheon of people that are always going to be part of Mickey’s life, and that he is never — somebody said once, you can never outrun your childhood, but you can never outrun your past for that matter.

Legal has been a constant presence in every season of The Lincoln Lawyer. While not part of the main cast, his connection to Mickey’s father made his legal advice an important aspect of how the protagonist approached all his cases. With him gone, that dynamic no longer exists, meaning he’s more on his own than he’s ever been before.