It’s time for Suits LA to get Litt Up.
After Gabriel Macht returned as Harvey Specter for multiple episodes earlier this season, the next Suits character to appear on the spinoff series is none other than heel-turned-hero Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman), who makes his debut in Sunday’s penultimate episode, “Angry Sylvester.” And even though it’s been six years, Hoffman promises that Louis’ “buffoonery” hasn’t changed at all — but the actor did “panic” about bringing the character back onscreen.
When Stuart (Josh McDermitt) has to attend anger management — er, apologies, we mean a “hostility mitigation” retreat — he crosses paths with Louis. The two men become instant adversaries thanks to, in no small part, some classic confusion over what appendage Louis threatens to shove down his throat (it’s never what you think he means). But it’s not hard to imagine their shared history with BFFs Harvey and Ted Black (Stephen Amell) will ultimately play a part in how they handle their time in anger management and, ultimately, with each other, potentially leading to more appearances from Louis in the future. (Check out an exclusive sneak peek at the episode in the video above.)
“In general, I think the characters are missed,” Hoffman tells Entertainment Weekly. “When you think of Suits, you do think of Harvey, you think of Louis, you think of Donna [Sarah Rafferty], you think of Mike [Patrick J. Adams], and so I think [creator] Aaron [Korsh] would use every single one of these characters if he could, as early as he could, because it’s nostalgia. If it works, I think he’ll do more of it.”
Below, Hoffman reveals why he panicked about returning as Louis, what fans can expect from his appearance in the episode, and why he’s had to become as much of an expert on “mudding” as Louis himself.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did your return to the Suits-verse happen?
RICK HOFFMAN: It had always been been discussed between [creator] Aaron [Korsh] and myself, even back when we were finishing up Suits in 2019. He’s such fun character, but I did not expect him to have me involved so early on Suits LA. I just didn’t think that was part of the rules, as far as a first season. But it was a welcomed phone call and it was exciting idea and it did not take me very long to go, “Yep, I’m in.”
Did you talk to Gabriel about his return earlier this season?
No, because I did not know that until I read it in [press] that that was happening even earlier. That’s smart for sure, because you’ve got to bring the anchor in, but again, I just didn’t know that it was going to be that early.
What did Aaron tell you in those initial conversations about why he wanted to bring Louis back onscreen?
He just thought it would be a fun idea and it made sense. He wasn’t going to bring me in if it was inorganic, and he happened to have a character that had anger issues. So who better, if you’re going to bring in an old character, if he’s getting sent to anger management? When you hear Louis and anger management, isn’t that one of the best potential ideas? It’s just makes so much sense. With no disrespect to Dr. Lipschitz [Ray Proscia] — if Louis is getting therapy somewhere else, he wasn’t cheating. He just got sent to a facility for a brief weekend.
Definitely not cheating … just trying something new.
[Laughs] That’s right.
What new revelations are we going to learn about Louis in this episode?
[They were] able to fit the balance of his buffoonery and somehow find that he’s in this mini existential crisis with his being a father and husband and all that, feeling not enough. They were able to really encapsulate in a very small period of time, in a very nice relationship. I felt it worked. And so I just hope that the fans agree.
What did you think of Louis’ return when you read the script for the first time?
Every single script I’ve ever gotten, when they call on Louis to do ridiculous s—, I completely panic and go, “It’s not going to work.” And then my anxiety and neuroses, somehow it works into some weird formula where it gets to this place where I just freak myself out enough to where I’m so prepared and ready to ground the hell out of it. Somehow it seems, thus far, after talking about eating c— for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, talking about wood with Donna, talking to Harvey about riding him bareback, and now cut to talking about his fist being mistaken for his penis, it just all seems to fall into place.
You know, when you lay it all out like that in a list, it really does make you think back on all the wild things you’ve had to say as Louis.
[Laughs] There is not one of those that doesn’t fit.
What was it like your first day on set back as Louis? Did you have any troubles getting back into character after six years?
It’s not even a question. Meaning it was easy, and it wasn’t even an issue. It was more of, I just didn’t want to let anybody down, because everybody kept saying, “It’s going to be great, it’s going to be great, it’s going to be great.” I’m like, “Well, is it? I better not f— up!” Josh McDermitt could not have been a better scene partner. He just was so warm, prior to me arriving, just very welcoming, emailed and told me if I needed anything, just one of those actors. So I already knew it was going to be a great experience and we just had a great time shooting 14 hours for two days.
You’ve got a great debut scene with Louis and Stewart’s first meeting as they fight over a luggage cart. What was it like filming that argument that turns into a hilarious bit of physical comedy?
I didn’t realize they were going to keep that in. In fact, it’s the first I’ve heard of it, from you. That was added because they didn’t say cut. There were different variations of how that scene ended. At one point I was jumping on the suitcases, but ultimately that was the first scene that I did with Josh. Aaron was there and he’s just the great barometer, when you know he is laughing, then it’s working. So it was a great, fun scene to start with.
Nicole Weingart/NBC
Rick Hoffman reprises his role as Louis Litt on ‘Suits LA’
Before you talked to Aaron about this episode and read the script and learned what Louis was up to, how did it compare to what you’ve thought about where your character ended up six years later?
I always looked at there being more of a crisis for Louis that was heavier in general. It’s just because I like playing dramatic scenes more than I like playing comedic scenes, but those things absolutely fit. But for me, I always lean more towards the darker and having more real issues with life. But I think if it went my way, a lot of people would be depressed watching as opposed to finding a lot of joy in all of his buffoonery.
Where did you think Louis ended up? How dark are we talking?
I didn’t think Louis was in a bad way. I absolutely believed that he had been married to the love of his life, running the firm, and happily saw that he now has two children, which I thought was fantastic. But you ultimately wonder, is there more of a story to tell? And if there isn’t, that’s fine. But if there was, I have a list of things that could be very interesting that happened to Louis in this day and age, but I think that ship has sailed.
Would you want to return to Suits LA again in the future?
Of course! Selfishly, of course I would love to, but I just don’t know if that’s something that … I’d be curious to know what the real story is behind that. Do other people truly want to see more of him, of that guy? My mother does.
So what does that mean for the potential Suits reunion movie? Are you interested in doing that?
No thoughts, without a doubt. I would absolutely be interested, for sure. How could somebody say no to a character that changed their life, you know what I mean? I would love to know what that kind of person’s like. We all have nothing but fond thoughts of that experience, so I don’t get what would be in the way of wanting to do it.
We get to see Louis go mudding again in this episode in a very hilarious scene. Did you ever break while filming that?
It’s funny. No, I did not break. It’s the mud that makes you not break. I actually had to run the mud meeting for production, by the way, which is hilarious because even though we had directors, producers, who have all been on Suits, none of them were involved in the mudding episodes during the OG years. So I had to literally run a one-hour production meeting explaining how to get us safely out of that mud within a two-and-a-half hour period, because it took years to get that down. When we first did it back in 2013, Patrick and I were in there for seven hours because nobody knew that we were going to float. They had to put 300 lb. weights on us. Oh, was It was a nightmare, but as time went on, it got smoother and smoother. And so it was kind of just hilarious that I was the one — I’m like, “If I’m the one leading this meeting, we are all screwed.”
Suits LA airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, and streams the next day on Peacock.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
