Among the biggest changes this predicament brings to The Lincoln Lawyer‘s typical dynamic in season 4 is the heightened role of Neve Campbell’s Maggie McPherson, Mickey’s first ex-wife, mother of their daughter, Haley, and renowned prosecutor. Season 4 marks the first time since the series’ freshman outing that Campbell has appeared in all ten episodes of a season, having only appeared in four episodes of season 2 and two episodes of season 3.

Before The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 hits Netflix on February 5, co-showrunner Ted Humphrey spoke to ScreenRant‘s Jordan Williams about making the series’ “most personal season” yet, a shift that Campbell’s role reflects. In addition to discussing the devastating high stakes of Mickey’s trial, a new character joining their found family, and the balance of taking from Connelly’s book while integrating new series-original twists, Humphrey teased the deeper meaning behind and opportunities allowed by Maggie’s heightened presence:

Ted Humphrey: “It was very important to us to build this season with Neve front and center in it, or with Maggie, I should say, front and center in it. I mean, that is part of the book, and it was a part of the book that we were really excited to do, but it also makes total sense for the story. And we love – that relationship is the beating heart of Mickey’s life. And when you make a show, especially at a place like Netflix, and you’ve only got 10 episodes to work with, you have to be really story focused. And so sometimes there’s really this jigsaw puzzle of what characters fit where, but we were always looking for ‘How do we get back to Mickey and Maggie?’ And this story was the perfect opportunity to do that.”

Maggie’s elevated return doesn’t just expand on Mickey’s personal and familial narrative, however. It allows more opportunities to see the real “McFierce” in action, and add depth to her dynamics with other characters in the larger Lincoln Lawyer ensemble.

One character relationship that Campbell’s greater season 4 role allows more time with is that between Maggie and Becki Newton’s Lorna, Mickey’s second ex-wife. As the two Lincoln Lawyer characters provide a support system for Mickey personally and professionally this season, Humphrey was eager to explore how Maggie and Lorna’s relationship has “blossomed and developed“ from their “frosty” season 1 dynamic:

Ted Humphrey: “That is one of my favorite relationships in the whole show. And it has really developed. Every show does this. When I did The Good Wife a long time ago, I think of Alicia and Cary in season 1, and they were antagonistic. They were competing for the same job. And over the course of that show, seven seasons, they became allies and friends and business partners and then enemies again. These relationships have to grow. And so in season 1, Lorna was intimidated by Maggie and they had this kind of frosty relationship that has blossomed and developed.

And we always say that Mickey is the sun of our show, and all the other planets kind of revolve around him, and they are two people that care deeply about him and obviously have an odd relationship with one another that they have to figure out how to work together in order to help him. And it’s a lot of fun to do that.”

Mickey, Maggie, and Lorna’s lives have drastically changed since season 1, and the many curveballs thrown at them and sacrifices they must make as a team in season 4 emphasize how much they’ve grown over the past few years. Lorna is no longer intimidated by Maggie as strongly she was back in season 1, with Lorna also having gained significantly more confidence since becoming a lawyer and having to keep the firm afloat in Mickey’s absence.

However, when asked what he was most excited to explore with Neve Campbell in season 4, Ted Humphrey explained that he was hungry to finally give a deeper demonstration of Maggie’s reputation as a “fierce lawyer.” Over the first three seasons, there weren’t many opportunities to see this side of Maggie because “those aren’t usually the stories we tell,” but Maggie’s role in The Law of Innocence thankfully allowed the series to put the legendary “Maggie McFierce” in the spotlight.

Humphrey elaborated that it was “a lot of fun” to bring Maggie McFierce into the mix with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo opposite Constance Zimmer’s new prosecutor Dana Berg, with Scott Lawrence’s Judge Stone being “an amazing foil for all of them.” Per the showrunner (who shares the title with Dailyn Rodriguez), Campbell “really knocked it out of the park,” firmly proving why her character earned her intimidating legal nickname.

Michael Connelly “Is Always The First Person” To Encourage The Lincoln Lawyer Changing & Expanding On His Books

Though The Lincoln Lawyer is inspired by Michael Connelly’s hit Mickey Haller book series, the Netflix TV show often departs from its source material, allowing for a different take on the shocking events while giving book readers new twists to be surprised by. When Ted Humphrey was asked about how he approached adapting the emotional story from Connelly’s The Law of Innocence for season 4, he discussed the “fun process” of working off the author’s “wonderful books” and changing certain moments for the series:

Ted Humphrey: “We have the luxury of having Michael [Connelly]’s wonderful books to work off of. We do expand upon those books and change them a fair amount, and Michael’s always the first person to encourage us to do that. He always says that his audience, his very dedicated audience of readers love the shows because there’s enough familiarity that they can go, ‘Oh, I know what this is.’ But then enough has changed or is still surprising that it’s still a mystery. There’s still things that they’re not expecting. Things happen in different ways or new things happen that weren’t there at all. So that’s just a fun process, first of all. But it really is a luxury to have even just the world of these characters to kind of work from.”

Though the new episodes make some tweaks from the novel, The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 is the culmination of the calculated, high-stakes story that Humphrey’s series has been telling over the first three seasons of “a man’s redemption, then kind of flying too close to the sun, and then being haunted by mistakes he’s made in the past.” Per Humphrey, that arc over the first three seasons meant it was now crucial for season 4 to be “the most personal and emotional season [they]’ve ever made.”

Mickey Gets A New Driver & “Genuine Friendship” In The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4’s New Character Bamba

ScreenRant: As he does almost every season, Mickey also gets a new driver in the character of Bamba. He’s such a fascinating character to me, and his connection to Mickey and how he comes on – it’s very similar to what we’ve seen before with somebody getting hired as a favor but hasn’t really been a chauffeur before. So it’s always a learning curve, but their story is really unique this season. What was it about Bamba’s history and relationship with Mickey that you thought progressed the themes and ethos of this season further?

Ted Humphrey: I mean, Mickey’s a criminal defense lawyer and he spent most of his life defending people from, they’re either from the wrong side of the tracks or they find themselves for some reason on the wrong side of the tracks. And so he’s been in jail many, many times visiting people like Bamba. Now, of course, he finds himself in jail on the other side of the bars maybe, but he has a rapport with somebody like Bamba and they have something to offer each other, and there’s genuine friendship there, and we love that character.

We thought [Marcus Henderson] did a wonderful job with the character. It was really fun to work with him. Yeah, it’s a great relationship. We’d love to find a way in the future to play more with them.

Ted Humphrey Addresses Potential The Lincoln Lawyer Spinoffs

ScreenRant: Speaking of the future, these are not connected except for in the Michael Connelly book universe, but there has been confirmation of a Bosch prequel series, and I was curious about if that’s something you guys have ever considered tapping into with The Lincoln Lawyer lore. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to see Legal Siegel and Mickey’s father young.

Ted Humphrey: From your lips to Ted Sarandos’ ears. Listen, that’s fascinating and I think could be very interesting. I will say that we absolutely have a wider universe for these characters in mind.

Obviously, at the end of the day, the audience is who determines that, just like the audience is who determines the next season and how many seasons there are, if there’s a next season or whatever it is. So we definitely want to expand the world of Mickey’s personal life, his family, who this guy is and where he finds himself, and who are the people that he calls family. Let’s put it that way. So we’re looking at all those things.