SUITS: An Evening with the Cast and Creator of the USA Network Series

On Monday night at the Paley Center for Media, the entire cast of the popular USA Network drama Suits along with Aaron Korsh, the creative mind behind the series, were on hand to salute the return of the show that is now in its second season.

The evening was opened by Paley Center Director of Programming Rene Reyes who welcomed everyone to the third of the Center’s spring programs (Being Human and Fringe were spotlighted last week). Then the evening was turned over to the night’s moderator Jarett Wieselman, Editorial Director for ET Online, who provided the right amount of wit and enthusiasm about what was to come that evening before introducing Aaron to the stage to speak about the episode that was to be screened.

Tonight’s episode “Blind-Sided” was screened, picking up where the August mid-season finale left off. There won’t be any spoilers on the return episode, but you owe it to yourself to check out the episode when its airs on the USA Network at 10 PM.

Once the episode was completed and the applause died down, the talented cast was invited to the stage; including Sarah Rafferty (Donna Paulsen), Rick Hoffman (Louis Litt), Gina Torres (Jessica Pearson), Meghan Markle (Rachel Zane), Patrick J. Adams (Mike Ross) and Gabriel Macht (Harvey Specter) along with creator Aaron Korsh joining them on stage.

The first question was centered on the casting process for the series with Aaron sharing that Patrick was found before Gabriel and the two leads never read together for their respective roles – which, in some instances, is rare because typically it is best to make sure that your lead actors mesh well together. But, as the fans know, obviously that did not matter as Gabriel and Patrick have great chemistry when in character.

It was also pointed out that Sarah and Gabriel have known each other for well over 15 years, dating back to their early years in their acting careers where they “put up posters” for the theatre productions. And it was Gabriel who recommended Sarah for the part of Donna; to which Aaron shared that while they auditioned “tons of people for the part”, it always came back to Sarah.

Among the other highlights of the panel were:

•  Rick stating, “how could you ask for a better part” in relation to his role of Louis Litt;
•  Gina sharing that she admires how “ferocious” Jessica is about your position at the firm, her shoes, her wardrobe and her employees;
•  When a can opener was given to Gabriel by moderator Jarett, Aaron shared that at some there will be an explanation why one is so important to Donna and Harvey, but that he wouldn’t share anything just yet;
•  That the cast obviously enjoys spending time on Twitter – they are a very social media savvy cast – and that Gabriel sends Rick a lot of crazy and silly texts;
•  Patrick enjoys giving Meghan a hard time about how well he and the other actresses who have played opposite him have performed in scenes, just to psych her out;
•  When asked who is least like their character, it seems they all agreed that Gabriel is least like Harvey; in fact, Aaron joked that while he wants Harvey to be “cool”, Gabriel would have him “crying all the time”;
•  Meghan does not watch any of the episodes once they air, as it is very hard for her to watch herself; if she did watch the episodes she is concerned it would affect her future performances;
•  Meghan also shared that on the drive over to the Paley Center for the event she drove by the local Paper Source store, which is where she worked for several years back in the day, sharing that it was rather surreal to be doing what she is doing now; and,
•  Aaron shared that another flashback episode is being planned for season 3 and he shared that he is very excited about the final episode of this current season, but wouldn’t give out any spoilers.

The evening ended with an audience Q&A where we learned that the cases that are featured in the episodes are not based on any actual cases and Aaron being commended for creating fully developed female characters. He shared that the does not see gender when writing the show, but he was pleased at how the characters have been received by the viewing audience. And, the cast shared that since they film in a warehouse in Toronto they had no idea about all of the billboards that went up for the first season and were, needless to say, overwhelmed by the response they have gotten from fans.

Make sure that you watch the return of Suits tonight on the USA Network at 10/9c.