Why was Suits canceled?

Suits came to an end in 2019 after nine great seasons. USA Network made the decision ahead of the ninth season, giving the writers time to wrap things up.

Now it’s on Netflix, and suddenly the series has gained a surge of interest. It’s led to a renewed interest in the overall series, leading to a spinoff series being ordered by NBC. So, it really does make us wonder why Suits was even canceled in the first place.

It turns out that this was a long process. It wasn’t just a sudden cancellation and had been something talked about for some time.

The exit of major characters affected Suits

The end of Suits arguably started at the end of season 6, when you look at an interview between Deadline and showrunner (and creator) Aaron Korsch. Gina Torres had left, and Korsch knew that the stars were only locked in for another season. He had no idea at that point if any or all of the cast would want to stick around.

He did, however, want to continue the show. So did USA Network. There were talks of extending it to two more seasons, with season 8 having 16 episodes and then season 9 having 10 episodes.

Now it meant negotiating with the cast. This is where things got tricky. Meghan Markle was dating and getting ready to marry Prince Harry. Patrick J. Adams also decided that he didn’t want to return to the show. Would the series work without the two of them?

Suits season 9 was an end and not a cancellation

In the end, everyone agreed that they would attempt to continue with the plan of 26 episodes spread across two seasons. Then the ninth season would be the last.

Katherine Heigl made it a little easier. She wanted to join the series, and that would help to add in character as Markle left the show. In a way, Markle and Adams leaving at the same time meant that having their characters leave together made a lot more sense. I think the show would have struggled a little bit had we been left to believe Rachel and Mike split up or were trying to make long-distance work.

Fortunately, it worked out. Korsch was able to create a final run of episodes and wrap up the storylines well.

This renewed interest in the series has been great, but there wouldn’t have been a plan to bring the main series back. Instead, the focus is on a new spinoff set in L.A.

Suits is available to stream on Netflix.