LOS ANGELES: It was a bitter-sweet day for the ‘Suits’ fans.
While the show was officially renewed for the eighth season, but one of series' leading stars, Patrick J Adams, announced that he is exiting the legal drama.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the longtime star of the series will be exiting the series after the end of the current seventh season, which will kick off its final episodes on Wednesday, March 28.
When asked what prompted him to leave the show, Adams said, “I started thinking about leaving at the end of the first half of season six, after Mike was released from prison. From a story point of view, I was a little unsure of what was left for him to do. Mike had made the pledge during his trial that if he were allowed to continue to practice the law, he would dedicate his time and energy to underrepresented people and not big, corporate interests.”
Adams, who essays the role of Michael Ross in the show, said he decided to walk away from the show halfway through filming season seven.
“As we were starting to talk about renegotiating contracts, I took a moment. Everybody was going full steam ahead and I stopped and said, ‘We need to think about this because this is more of my time and more of my life — and what’s the story left to tell?” noted Adams.
He added, “I had this voice in my head that said that we’ve told his story and if he hangs out longer, Mike is just going to be another lawyer on television. That didn’t feel right for him.”
The actor also shared said that he and Meghan Markle, who is leaving the show due to her upcoming wedding to Prince Harry, had a ball filming their final scenes together.
He explained, “There was this natural sense that we both knew that the time had come for both of us. It went unspoken and we just enjoyed the hell out of the last few episodes that we got to shoot. We both knew that we wouldn’t be coming back. It made every one of our scenes that much more special. We had a great time.”
But, the biggest question, will Mike and Rachel will have a fairytale wedding at the end of season seven?
Though he did not say anything about a wedding, he did say that fans should be happy with their final storylines.
“It just so happens that the timing of how I was feeling [about leaving] and what was going on in Meghan’s life created an opportunity where there was no need to force some conflict or tear Mike and Rachel apart. It allowed us to go on to whatever happens next for Mike and Rachel together,” explained Adams.
Adams is all set to take a break before investigating working behind the camera for a change and hasn’t ruled out a return to Suits at some stage in the future.
“After seven years on this show, I feel really empowered and capable of taking on more of a leadership role and getting things made,” he said. If it felt like it was the appropriate thing to bring Mike back for a big goodbye, then that’s something I could be open to,” shared Adams.