Major spoilers for Season 4 of The Lincoln Lawyer are ahead! Read with caution, and watch the show with a Netflix subscription.
Much like how Eddie died in the middle of Season 3, The Lincoln Lawyer shocked me in Season 4 by killing off a major character in the middle of the installment. So, I had to ask the showrunner about their choice to have Elliott Gould’s Legal die amid the season that dropped on Netflix’s 2026 schedule, and he told me why they decided to do it now and the impact it had on Mickey.
Along with chatting about the major cliffhanger The Lincoln Lawyer ended on in Season 4, I also spoke with Ted Humphrey about the major bombs dropped throughout the episodes. This, obviously, included the unexpected death of Legal. Speaking about the novel this book-to-screen adaptation is inspired by, the showrunner told me how Michael Connelly’s writing inspired their choice to have Gould’s character die in Episode 6:
So Legal does die in the books, although he does not – I don't know if he dies in this book, or I think it actually happens off-screen between books. Like in a book, suddenly, Mickey goes to a cemetery or something to visit Legal’s grave, and you realize that he's died. And you know, it felt like that's such an important character to us.
Part of the reason they wanted to make such a big deal out of Legal’s death on the show stems from the fact that Elliott Gould plays him. To that point, Humphrey told me that the actor and his work in The Long Goodbye have really inspired The Lincoln Lawyer:
It's so great to have had Elliott Gould play a character. And I've said this before in other settings that you know, so much of the look and feel of the show is derived from the great California noirs of the '70s, like Chinatown and especially The Long Goodbye, which Elliott was the star of.
Continuing to gush about the actor, the co-creator explained that he even had a massive poster for The Long Goodbye with Gould on it in his office. He made it very clear that this movie from 1973 and other noirs like that have heavily inspired this binge-able Netflix show, so there’s been a “meta quality” to having the actor on The Lincoln Lawyer.
So, between Gould’s history with this genre, mixed with the mentor Legal was to both Mickey and Lorna, there was a lot to explore in the aftermath of his character's death. Explaining that point further, Humphrey told me:
But, you know, it did feel like at some point, Yoda always dies, and then, in some ways, they become more powerful after they die, or their advice becomes more powerful after they die, right? And it felt like, at that moment, it was just a great way to build. I mean, how many of the Trials of Job can we give this guy, right? So, this felt like a great way to really pile it on Mickey, and give him a wonderful kind of, you know, Hobson's choice to make in the episode at that point, which he does make.
Now, after Legal had a heart attack on the bus, Mickey surrendered himself to the court, because he wouldn’t waive a speedy trial. This caused him to miss Legal’s funeral in the following episode, and it’s pretty clear that this loss is weighing heavily on him as he deals with everything else going on in his life.
What Humphrey told me about stacking all this together makes so much sense. Much like Yoda’s death in Return of the Jedi, Mickey lost his mentor, and in a lot of ways, Legal’s advice became more valuable after that. On top of that, this loss added to the trials and tribulations Mickey was already facing with his own case. That’s where The Book of Job comes into play, seeing as that's about being tested through an intense amount of loss and suffering. Along with all that, as Humphrey said, Mickey is given a Hobson’s choice, here, meaning he’s presented with a choice that actually has no alternative.
So, all around, Legal’s death added to the complexity of Mickey’s situation this season. It also put an emotional weight on the second half of the season, as emotions and tension ran high between the lawyer and his team. That's because they were coming to terms with a truly tragic death while also dealing with Mickey’s trial and all their other clients.
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