Why NBC Canceled Stephen Amell's Suits LA After Just One Season

While the original "Suits" TV series got a boost in visibility after one of its stars — Meghan Markle — went on to become a duchess, it was in its seventh season by that point. So it was already plenty popular even before people were curious about the legal drama starring the woman who got Prince Harry to settle down. Yet Season 8 not only saw Markle's departure but also that of two other main cast members. It's usually pretty difficult for a show to survive that sort of character exodus, which is why that ended up being one of the reasons that "Suits" was canceled at the end of Season 9.

The first attempt at a "Suits" spin-off starred one of the cast members who exited, Gina Torres, as the titular character in 2019's "Pearson." That show ended up lasting only one season. The franchise then took some time off to regroup, and was revived in 2025 with "Suits LA," starring Stephen Amell of "Arrow" fame. However, before the first season of "Suits LA" was even done airing, the announcement came that the show wouldn't be getting a Season 2. Ratings, reviews, and a shifting content focus at "Suits" network NBC would ultimately be the three-hit combo that hung the latest — and possibly final — incarnation of the franchise out to dry.

For every great TV spin-off that is totally worth your time, there are a dozen more that are quickly forgotten — and typically for good reason. "Suits LA" definitely didn't get off on the right foot with critics, who lambasted the show on the way to a 36% Rotten Tomatoes score. The critical consensus stated, "'Suits LA' dresses like the original article but lacks the acumen to make a case for itself." That being said, some reviews were optimistic that the show had a strong enough foundation to turn itself around if given the chance, and it seemed like NBC was initially willing to give it that chance — until it wasn't.

Sometimes a network is willing to forgive rough ratings for a new show and provide it with an opportunity to find an audience. Some of the all-time great shows had low ratings in their first seasons, maybe even the first few seasons — think "Seinfeld" — but a network was willing to stand behind the show because it knew the program would eventually get there in terms of audience numbers. "Suits LA" debuted to disappointing ratings, only to then see those already-lackluster numbers steadily drop week after week. NBC didn't even bother to see if the show got a season finale boost before the network had seen enough, and decided it wasn't willing to roll the dice on seeing if "Suits LA" would become one of those shows that rebounded after a shaky start. 

The surprising idea that led to the creation of "Ted Lasso" came from Jason Sudeikis doing an NBC Sports commercial in which he played an American football coach who finds himself coaching a soccer team in Europe. Fast forward 10 years, and "Ted Lasso" — with three seasons and a bunch of awards under its belt — ended up bringing more acclaim to Universal Television than "Suits LA" did. That might partly explain why NBC has expressed a renewed interest in amping up the live sports programming and scaling back on scripted shows.

In fact, alongside the announcement of "Suits LA" being canceled, NBC also axed four other shows. "We had a lot of shows that we had to pass on in order to put our schedule together," said Jeff Bader, President of Program Planning Strategy for NBCUniversal Entertainment (via Us Weekly). "In the fall, the NBA is a huge priority for us. That is our biggest new show in the fall." 

In recent years, as ratings have been down overall for traditional television networks in terms of sitcoms, dramas, and other scripted programming, live sports continue to be a consistently huge audience draw. In 2024, the entire top 10 most-watched primetime network television shows were sports broadcasts. So it's no surprise that networks are going to continue to focus on that arena and have been quick to cancel anything but the absolute highest-rated scripted shows — including "Suits LA."