CBSThe story of Alicia Florrick ended with The Good Wife, but that doesn't mean you've seen the last of her.
Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo are headlining a spinoff anchored on their two characters, Alicia's (Julianna Margulies) coworkers from the law firm. The events take place a year after the finale which saw Alicia betraying Diane (Baranski) in court after she instructed Lucca (Jumbo) to attack Diane's married life in cross examination of Diane's husband, Kurt (Gary Cole). The series ended with Diane slapping Alicia, awakening Alicia to what she has become—everything she hated—only to straighten herself up and walk toward her future. Good Wife co-creators Robert and Michelle King are penning the script for the spinoff, which will be run by Oscar nominee Phil Alden Robinson of Field of Dreams fame.
The spinoff, which the Kings said is still coming together, will, in a way, force the writers to sort of provide more closure, a future to what happened after Alicia left that back hallway.
"It's difficult only because you don't want to taint something that felt complete to us," Robert King told E! News while promoting their new summer series BrainDead. "One of those things we're seeing if it works is seeing if Julianna can guest on the show. It's not going to be going in the past, it will be continuing in the future…It is its own story and you want it to be its own story, so that is difficult and that's one of the things we're trying to break."
"I would say one of the challenges is to figure out how to balance the new characters—we'll be introducing new characters—and the ones that people love from The Good Wife," Michelle King added.
Fans assumed any spinoff would be about supporting players, guest stars such as Carrie Preston's Elsbeth Tascioni, not people tied so closely to the story of Alicia Florrick that was the center of The Good Wife.
"That's the thing, could you really pass that up? Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo and hopefully we'll get some faces you'll recognize, but we really also want it to be about new faces too," Robert said.
Look for the tone to match The Good Wife, but perhaps a little darker than you'd expect.
"It won't be on network TV so, the parameters are a little broader because it is on All Access," Michelle said. "One can go more towards an R-rated show that one couldn't do on network TV."
"Here's the thing. The Good Wife didn't start out as an ensemble, but the actors were so much fun you went there. So, we could say one thing, but it might go in a different direction," Robert said when asked whether the untitled spinoff would be more of an ensemble drama. "I think what we're talking is what people responded to most in The Good Wife, it would be an echo of that. I thought it was a strong kind of family-like dynamic among these characters. I think we'll go for that again just because, A) That's the most fun to write and b. Christine Baranski is shown off to good effect and Cush is shown off to good effect."
It didn't take much to convince the two actresses to sign on. "We had one or two conversations and they just wanted clarity and they were pretty enthused," Michalle said. "They love the characters. It's fantastic."
But there was some difficulty. After all, it's Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo. "I do think the difficulty was getting them early because they're so desirable. They were going to be snapped up," Robert said. However, it all worked out, despite a moment when they had to ask Baranski to let them know if she was close to a new project. "[Christine is] great, because she does love the character and she does want to see where the character will go."
The Good Wife spinoff will premiere on CBS proper in 2017 before moving over to CBS All Access, the network's streaming platform.