Well that happened! Someone headed to prison at the end of Suits Season 5 Episode 16, “25th Hour.” The finale was an emotional roller coaster with everyone trying to save Mike, his co-workers and the firm.
Beware: Spoilers for the Suits Season 5 finale. If you haven’t watched, don’t continue!
BuddyTV spoke with Aaron Korsh, creator and executive producer, about the shocking conclusion to the season and where the show goes from here in Season 6.
Suits Finale Exclusive Interview: EP Aaron Korsh Teases Someone is Going to Prison >>>
Will we see Mike’s time in prison next season? Or will there be a time jump?
We are not planning on doing a time jump. Each year, we go always go through the same question, should we come back with a time jump? And almost every time we think like, “There’s just too much good stuff that could happen right now, right in the immediate aftermath of whatever it is that happened.”
I felt like if we’re going to send him to prison, let’s see him in prison. Let’s not hold back on that. The whole purpose of sending him to prison was to say, “Let’s see what would happen if we sort of take the show to it’s natural conclusion in that aspect of the show and go beyond it.” For me, to go beyond it, I’d rather not jump ahead. I’d rather see what’s life gonna be like in prison for Mike Ross. We explored it. If we couldn’t come up with a story that we thought was compelling, we wouldn’t have done it, but we did and we hope it will be good.
Will Mike be helping people with the law in prison?
That might be a small aspect of him in prison. I will say it was the first idea that was pitched to me. … Most of the people’s first thing was, they said, “If Mike goes to jail that the season’s going to be jailhouse lawyer,” right? For me, I wasn’t sort of interested in that. That’s not to say we might not– we might do that on a small basis, but I was more interested in seeing him adapt to life in prison and see how he can manage and survive on a more personal level. There will be some aspect of that, but that was not my first instinct. I think it’s a case of splitting the difference.
Mike’s plea deal was for 2 years behind bars. Will it actually be two years or could he get out sooner?
We are still working that through. In real life, two years can sometimes be less than two years with good behavior or some other incentive to get you out earlier. I suppose it’s also possible that it could be more than two years if you mess up in some form or fashion while you’re in there. Once you’re inside that place anything can happen. I can say this, we are not planning on getting him out in short order. He’s going to be in there for awhile, but we haven’t landed yet on what might happen exactly once he gets inside.
The firm is threatened now because of Mike’s deal. Will that be the centerpiece of the firm side next season?
Yes, is the short answer. The firm isn’t even really threatened, the firm is gone to some degree. Every single person in that firm is gone when they get back. Where did they go? What are they going to do? The truth is when we come back, we’re gonna pick up sort of right where we left off.
Mike’s going to have to deal with his first night in prison and our people are going to have to deal with the fact that when they walked back into the firm nobody was there. What are they going to do? Is there going to be a Pearson Specter Litt tomorrow? There may not be. And if there isn’t, what are they going to do? Are they going to go their separate ways? Are they going to stick together and start a new thing? What exactly is going to happen? And that’s going to be answered throughout the course of Season 6.
Suits will return for Season 6 on USA.
(Image courtesy of USA.)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Contributing Editor and Writer for Collider, BuddyTV, TV Fanatic, CliqueClack, and other publications. TV criticism, reviews, interviews with actors and producers, and other related content. Founder of TV Diehard.
