'Suits' Postmortem: Malcolm-Jamal Warner on Julius's Change of Heart
Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the “Back on the Map” episode of Suits.
This week on Suits, Harvey schemed to land a big client to, as the title of the hour says, put the firm back on the map, while Mike maneuvered simply to ensure that both he and his roommate, Kevin, could stay alive since Gallo won’t be transferred to another prison anytime soon.
Mike took out his frustration on prison counselor Julius, who originally said the only thing he could do to help Mike was suggest that he file a formal complaint against Gallo. But in the end, after Gallo’s men gave Kevin a beating while Mike was working in the kitchen, Julius came through — he got Kevin a job in the kitchen, too, so neither of them will ever have to be alone again (except for when Mike’s in that room talking to Harvey?).
Related: ‘Suits’ Postmortem: Paul Schulze on Gallo’s Fights With Mike and Harvey
Warner has been a huge fan of the USA drama since he read for the pilot (though he can’t remember which part now) and auditioned again for the role of Jeff (D.B. Woodside’s character). What drew him to Julius? “First, it was just the fact that it was Suits, so I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I want to go out for it,‘” he admits. “The thing that really intrigued me, having been a fan of the show, was being a part of the audience seeing a different side of Mike Ross. What we find with Mike at Danbury, and seeing his interactions with Julius, is that Mike is in a position that he hasn’t been in in such a long time — he’s helpless. Julius is the guy who is there to help him, but he’s also the guy, even if Mike doesn’t want to listen to his s–t, he has to listen to it. I was only supposed to be in it for a couple episodes, but [creator Aaron Korsh] keeps bringing the character back. I’m definitely interested in what the next layer of their relationship becomes.”
Warner’s affection for the show has made the experience an interesting one for the veteran actor, who’s also recently appeared on The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Major Crimes, American Horror Story, and Sons of Anarchy. “The first day of work was a little more challenging than I had anticipated. I’m a fan of the show, I’m a big fan of Mike Ross, and I like Patrick [J. Adams] a lot. I know Mike Ross was bad, but I loved the fact that he is so good at what he does. There was a lot of that that I had to push through, say [to myself], ‘Okay, well, Julius doesn’t necessarily feel the same about Mike as Malcolm does. I think I might be liking him too much,'” Warner says, laughing. “I think you don’t realize how much it’ll affect you until you actually get into doing the work.”
Speaking of the work, Warner has spent time thinking of Julius’s backstory — what made him a counselor and his journey leading up to this point. “Ironically enough,” he says, “as we get into some more episodes, we find out a little bit more about Julius as Julius begins to share some things about his life with Mike. Apparently Aaron and I were on the same page in terms of his backstory. It’s nothing that is necessarily a major turning point in the show, but it definitely marks a shift in Julius and Mike’s relationship, just in terms of trusting each other.”
They got off to a shaky start in this hour, after Mike mentioned what Kevin had told him about another guy who’d taken Julius’s fatal advice to snitch on a fellow inmate. “It’s definitely a ‘How dare you,'” Warner says of Julius’s reaction. “Julius is a professional. He is a counselor. He is a therapist. He’s a good guy, but he’s also someone who doesn’t appreciate getting f–ked with. If I’m here trying to help you, that kind of push-back is not something that he appreciates, because it’s a sore point for him. He obviously does make the decision that he’s going to give Kevin Miller kitchen duty, which I was very happy to see happen.”
Related: ‘Suits’ Season 6 Premiere Postmortem with Patrick J. Adams and Creator Aaron Korsh
That doesn’t mean it’s smooth sailing for Mike and Julius now though. “There’s another episode where we end up having that kind of dynamic again,” Warner says. “The one thing about Mike, now that he feels like Julius is on his side, he’s still coming up and still asking for more. It’s like Julius gives him an inch but he’s still trying to take advantage of that. There’s a little more push-back from Julius the next go around.”
He’s hoping they continue to work through it. “Obviously, in my ideal world, I would love for Mike to be so attached to Julius that when he gets out of prison, he still has a relationship with Julius,” Warner says with a laugh. “That’s in my ideal world.”
He’d settle for something else in the meantime. “All of my scenes have been with Patrick, but I would love to do some stuff with Gabriel [Macht],” he says. “Because I can definitely see Harvey trying to come in and be hard a– with Julius, and I see that being a great toe-to-toe dynamic.”
Suits airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m on USA.
