Why Did The Lincoln Lawyer Move Mickey Out Of His Actual Lincoln And Into An Office? The Co-Showrunner Explains

 Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the Lincoln Lawyer leaning his hands against a table.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the Lincoln Lawyer leaning his hands against a table.
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Season 2, Part 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer has dropped on Netflix to continue the story of lawyer Mickey Haller. Based on the books about the character from Michael Connelly, the title gets its name from the fact that Haller works out of his Lincoln Navigator, a staple that is somewhat like Mystery Inc.’s iconic van, the Batmobile, or the Winchester brothers’ ’67 Impala. Despite the title, however, that wasn't entirely the case in recent episodes.

Although the first season of the hit legal drama saw Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s Haller working out of the back of his Lincoln, driven by Jazz Reynolds’ Izzy Letts, that was not the situation in Season 2. Haller mostly worked out of his actual office for much of the season, but there was a good reason for that, as co-showrunner Ted Humphrey tells TV Insider:

You need to have a place to put scenes, and the inside of that car can get pretty claustrophobic after a while. Also, you need a place to set scenes with the other characters so that everybody’s just not constantly on the phone with each other. Because in the books, they’re on the phone with each other a lot. We already do plenty of phone calls on the show, but you can’t do every scene as a phone call. So to some extent, the office was a creative solution to the issue of, how do you translate these books to a television show?

Even despite the Lincoln Navigator being the main character of the series, it does make sense to switch it up a bit, especially since working out of the back of a car is a pretty confined space. Changes always have to be made when adapting books to screen, but this doesn't mean that Haller will always be in the office. Ted Humphrey said:

It is something that we’ll see him going back to. To me, he’s still the Lincoln Lawyer because he spends so much time in the Lincoln, and we shoot so much in it.

The series is called The Lincoln Lawyer, so while it may not be a lot, there has to be at least some scenes with the actual Lincoln. A third season has yet to be announced by Netflix, but it sounds like Haller will still be cruising around in the car and maybe even working more cases on the road in addition to spending some time in the office if the show does return for more. For me, seeing him out of the Lincoln and knowing he has an office was refreshing.

Considering Netflix’s track record with cancellations, it’s hard to tell whether or not the series will be renewed by Netflix. No matter how popular a show is or how long it’s been on, it seems that no show is safe these days. Hopefully, with the cast The Lincoln Lawyer as talented as they are, the series will be renewed for a third season, and fans will be able to see Haller return to the Lincoln. For now, they will just have to hope and wait and see.

It may be some time until fans see Mickey Haller back in the Lincoln Navigator, so they will just have to settle watching the first two seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer with a Netflix subscription. Be sure to also check out the 2023 Netflix TV schedule to see what else is coming to the streamer soon to keep you occupied.