'Suits' Postmortem: Rick Hoffman Talks Louis's Love Interest

Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the “Spain” episode of Suits.

For once, one of Louis Litt’s schemes seems to have worked out well for him. After learning that Louis (Rick Hoffman) lied to her about owning a home in the Hamptons, and was buying one just to keep spending time with her, Tara (Carly Pope) wasn’t angry — she thought it was romantic. Here, Hoffman weighs in on the fledgling relationship, that “wood” scene, and what’s to come.

I talked with Carly Pope a few weeks ago, and she said the way she looked at it, everyone comes into your life at the precise moment you need them. Why do you think the time was right for Louis to have another love interest?
Rick Hoffman: I stick to the saying that love doesn’t happen when you’re looking for it. Louis definitely was not looking for it. He was about to ream this architect for not showing up a half hour early. Out of nowhere, he spins around and his heart pops out of his chest like a cartoon character. He’s immediately, physically, over the moon. Then he realizes that she’s an opera lover and that’s all it really takes for Louis — he wants to get married. Ultimately, what we learn through the next bunch of episodes is, it’s not that simple, and through Louis and Tara learning more and more about each other, imperfections and all, something deeper grows.

Related: ‘Suits’ Postmortem: Carly Pope on Louis’s New Friend

Were you surprised when you heard that Louis didn’t actually own a house in the Hamptons? Or did you see that coming?
I thought it was hilarious when [creator Aaron Korsh] told me about it. To me, it was typical Louis, doing something unbelievably ridiculous for love. Obviously in that scene, when Jessica’s like, “You’re out of your mind,” Louis is like, “No, but this time I’m not out of my mind.” “All right, what is it?” “It’s because I’m in love with an architect.” It’s vintage Louis. As far as him doing what he does, it completely makes sense to me.

Of course, anything that Louis plans, especially something like this, it completely goes wrong. Actually, because of him stepping on his own feet this particular time, he wins himself a date. Here’s why Louis has grown over the course of five seasons, because out of his lie, he ends up being completely transparent and tells the truth, and it’s endearing and she accepts the date.

The start of this relationship has also given Louis some really nice scenes with Donna (Sarah Rafferty). How difficult was it to get through that discussion about Louis’s wood (for his remodeling) without laughing?
Any of those types of scenes — the dildo stuff with Stu Buzzini [played by Ian Reed Kessler], telling Jeff Malone, DB Woodside’s character that he eats cock for breakfast, lunch and dinner, over the course of five years the only thing as an actor that I care about is making sure that somewhere, somehow it is based in honestly. In this particular case when he talks about loving wood, especially when he starts talking about Ebony Wood, I don’t know how Sarah and I have kept it. We’ve had a great time this year. We’re back to that comedic dynamic that we get to play with one another. It was nice because we missed it a lot last year. The wood scene was the perfect template for that. For that experience that Sarah and I usually have together where one makes the other laugh.

Was Donna running out of Louis’s office giggling scripted or something Sarah did on the day?
What’s so funny is, our boss reads these things. I want to say that was improvised, but it may not have been. We always make fun of each other like, “No, the writers got that.” “No, the actors got that.” I want to say it was a collaborative experience on that one.

Well played.
That’s the safe answer.

Related: ‘Suits’ Postmortem: Erik Palladino Talks ‘Trust’ Issues

Going back to the season premiere, what was your initial reaction to the scene where Louis got high with Harvey (Gabriel Macht) and Jessica (Gina Torres)?
You would think that would be a scene I would look forward to. I was scared of that scene. Forgive me, all of you pot smokers out there: I’ve never really experienced getting high. It was challenging. I want to make it as not cliché as possible.

Was there any research then that went into that?
I went on YouTube to look at stoned people. If you want to talk about going out and having a good time drinking, that’s not a problem. It’s usually when it comes to [a scene involving] drugs that I have no experience with. None whatsoever.

Is Louis done interacting with Stu and the traders?
You will see a couple of Louis and Stu scenes.

I feel like Louis would not approve of Stu going after Jessica.
Absolutely not. It’s a good thing that Louis does not know about that.

Suits airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on USA.