Netflix, Where ‘Suits’ Blew Up, Passed on the New ‘Suits’ Spinoff

Brian Welk
·3 min read
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Netflix has looked pretty smart this past year in taking “Suits,” an under-appreciated cable show, and turning it into a streaming smash years after the USA Network finale. But if its executives had been truly prescient, Netflix would have bought the new “Suits” spinoff that is currently in the works for an undisclosed NBCUniversal platform.

It had the chance. Ted Sarandos, the streamer’s co-CEO, said “Suits” creator Aaron Korsh pitched them his new show years ago. But Netflix, along with the rest of Hollywood, looked the other way.

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“For the last several years, the guy that created ‘Suits’ had a spinoff show that he was trying to sell everywhere in town. Everybody passed, including us, and including [NBCUniversal], and now they’re making it,” Sarandos said at Monday’s UBS Global Media and Communications Conference. “There’s a huge, newer interest in ‘Suits.’ And I would probably argue that next year you’ll probably see a bunch of lawyer shows.”

Perhaps Ted should find himself in contempt of court: A new “Suits” would have fit present-day Netflix like, well, a finely-tailored suit. But to be fair, who saw the Summer of “Suits” coming? For all of Netflix’s data-driven insight and algorithmic prowess, it is still somewhat of a crap shoot trying to guess what will be a hit. Insert the famous William Goldman quote here.

Sarandos was explaining why legacy studios should want to license their content to Netflix. For starters, studios were literally built to license their content, he said, calling that the “natural” state of the industry. The “unnatural state” was hoarding IP for a proprietary streaming service. Now that programmers — HBO’s Casey Bloys among them — are beginning to remember the value in licensing, it has become a buyers market for top platforms.

“I think we’ve added a ton of value when you license to Netflix, value that you can then turn into something else,” Sarandos said. “‘Suits’ itself, we added a ton of value to that IP. So the creators get a bunch of benefit from it, the owners of the IP get a bunch of benefit from it, and more importantly the fans get a bunch of benefit from it from having this show that otherwise would’ve disappeared into obscurity.”

As Sarandos pointed out, “Suits” was available on both Peacock and Amazon for some time before it finally landed on Netflix. No one cared until the algorithm made them.

“Suits” spent 12 weeks at no. 1 on Nielsen’s overall streaming chart, racking up more than 2.3 billion viewing minutes week after week. The first season of the show even spent 11 weeks on Netflix’s Top 10 TV series (U.S.). “Suits” was the streamer’s top acquired program throughout the summer.

Korsh’s new “Suits” series, currently in development at Universal Studio Group’s UCP, is described as an “expansion” of the “Suits” world. The new version will focus on new characters and will take place in Los Angeles (OG “Suits” was New York), but will remain a legal-based workplace drama/procedural.

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