With Mike behind bars when Suits returns tonight for season six, the USA Network legal drama will feel like a whole new show. But could it also be one that's winding down? According to star Patrick J. Adams, it just might be.
E! News caught up with Adams at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, TX, where he admitted that this new direction for the long-running series feels like the show entering its twilight phase. "It kind of does, and I don't know if I get in trouble for saying that kind of thing, because who knows how long these things last, but ultimately, I think shows last usually a certain amount of time and our show isn't a CSI, and it doesn't have the words CSI or NCIS or whatever in front of it," he said.
"I don't think it's designed to be a 15-year show. I think we have another season in us, for sure, of interesting story, maybe more depending on where we go after this prison storyline," he continued. "There is some part of it that feels like it's quietly starting to end itself, and I think everybody sort of feels that."
The idea that the show might be nearing its series finale isn't the only thing that fans of the show will have to contend with as they sit down to watch season six. There's also the little matter of the show completely reinventing itself at this stage in the game. After blowing itself up last season by putting Mike on trial for his criminal and unethical behavior, Suits is staying the course, exploring how the turmoil continues to upend the world of Pearson Specter Litt with Mike now in prison. In other words: There's no magical legal trick to get everything back to the way it once was.
"I think that made us all really happy because we wanted to be part of something that if something happens on the show, it has consequences. We didn't want to be a show where like, OK, something can happen, but we can always reset to zero and be the same at the end of it. And it's hard because some of our fans wish it would be that way, just because it makes them happy," Adams admitted. "But I think other ones are excited when we make big changes, so we're trying to take everyone this ride. It's best for the show, but it's going to be hard for certain people to let go of the idea of what they feel the show needs to be. It's a good experiment and it's ballsy, and that's what we all really like. It's a risk and we're all taking it seriously and we're working hard to make this prison stuff feel like it's still part of our show, even though it's a little different."
Of course, the major changes for his character haven't come without their sacrifices for Adams. Key among them? "I haven't worked with anybody [in the main cast] but Gabriel [Macht] this season," he admitted. "I love it, I miss them dearly. I miss them, but for me, it's like I get to do this brand new little show. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I know one day I'll get to be reunited with all of them; we'll get to have those experiences again. For now, it's been a great change of pace. I feel like I have my own insular world I get to build."
That said, Mike's time in prison will feature a major connection to the PSL gang on the outside, Adams teased. "I can say that once he gets to prison there's some conflict right away and somebody from Harvey's past is in prison there and so sees now an opportunity to get back at Harvey from wronging him through Mike. So Mike is sort of dealing with something Harvey did once upon a time," he said. "And then they're working together to try to figure out how to keep him safe and keep him alive, and at the same time, hopefully get him out of prison a little sooner. While they're trying to rebuild Pearson Specter Litt on the outside, there's a client that Harvey's working with and it directly effects someone I'm dealing with in prison, so the two worlds are connected and it's us on the other side of a problem working together to try and fix it."
And if the new direction for the show still has you worried, Adams has a final message for you. "I think there will be some people that will be pissed, who just want Harvey and Mike to be OK and to those people I always say, I get it," he said. "Rewatch the first four seasons! It's all there, you had that moment, so let's figure out what's next."
Suits returns for season six on Wednesday, July 13 at 9 p.m. on USA.
(E! and USA are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
—Reporting by Tierney Bricker