Although many Suits fans are hoping an announcement for Suits season 10 will eventually come, the fate of Meghan Markle’s character Rachel may make such a season rather challenging. Before Markle’s departure from the show, which coincided with her engagement to Prince Harry, Rachel was one of the most important characters in Suits.
Despite Markle leaving the show two seasons before the Suits finale, she remained a key part of the story, in part because of her continued relationship with Suits’ main character, Mike Ross. The fact that Markle has since retired from acting therefore poses a serious challenge for Suits season 10, especially because of the implications this has for the story.
Mike And Rachel Were Still Together And Living In Seattle At The End Of Suits
Breaking Rachel And Mike Up Would Be Unthinkable
Although Rachel wasn’t in Suits season 8 or 9, and Mike had only brief cameos in the show following the couple’s departure in season 7, it was clear that Mike and Rachel were still happily married at the end of Suits. In fact, they were living in Seattle, and newlyweds Harvey and Donna were moving to work with them.
This ending cemented that Rachel and Mike’s marriage was going strong, but it also means that, if Suits season 10 were to ever happen, it would presumably require Harvey, Donna, Mike, and Rachel all coming together, as that is precisely what the show’s finale set up.
If Suits season 10 were to ever happen, it would presumably require Harvey, Donna, Mike, and Rachel all coming together.
Of course, there are ways the show could navigate this, but none of them seem particularly satisfying, and some of them would likely feel downright insulting. Perhaps the most obvious choice the show could make is to have Rachel and Mike break up off-screen, but that would feel like such a disservice, for so many reasons.
For one, Mike and Rachel getting divorced would certainly be an event significant enough that it should be depicted on-screen, and only seeing the aftermath of it would be so disappointing. It’s possible that the show could give that story some depth from Mike’s perspective, but it would still feel like it was undercutting the importance of that relationship.
It would also feel out of left field, even if there was an explanation for how their relationship went wrong. Mike and Rachel had their issues, but there was no indication that the two were having any serious challenges, including when Mike returned in the final season of the show. From all that was shown, they remained deeply in love.
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5 Reasons Mike & Rachel Are The Best Suits Couple (And 5 Reasons It’s Harvey & Donna)
Suits featured a special relationship between the two leads, Mike Ross and Harvey Specter, but there are two more important relationships in the show.
There are other options, such as having Rachel die off-screen, that would be even worse than the two being divorced. Even the most likely possibility of the show simply explaining away Rachel’s absence in various ways throughout the season would be dissatisfying and just wouldn’t work in the long-term.
Suits Season 10 Would Struggle To Justify Rachel’s Absence
Rachel Not Returning Could Only Be Explained For So Long
It feels more likely that Suits season 10 would simply explain away Rachel’s absence in some way, rather than making a massive change like having Rachel and Mike divorce or killing Rachel off. After all, that is how Suits managed to bring Mike Ross back after Markle had left the show.
While that worked with Mike’s minor cameos, it just isn’t realistic for the show to constantly find new reasons Rachel isn’t there. Particularly because the finale confirmed that Harvey and Donna would now be living near and working with Mike and Rachel, it would be much more difficult to constantly write Rachel out of scenes.
After more than a few excuses, this would begin to feel awkward and impossible to believe, which just wouldn’t be in the spirit of the show that has remained such a fan favorite even years after it concluded. In light of those complications, it’s possible that Suits season 10 could never really come to be—but there are other possibilities.
A Suits Movie Would Be Easier To Pull Off Than Another Season
Having One Streamlined (Shorter) Story Could Work Better
While Suits season 10 might be too challenging to pull off for various reasons—Rachel’s absence among them—there is the possibility that a Suits movie might work so much better. While that may feel like a stretch, this show is no stranger to pivots, given there was originally a completely different plan for Mike and Harvey in Suits.
Some fans may be disappointed if Suits returned not as a full-fledged season 10 as many are hoping but rather as a movie, but there would be a number of benefits to this decision. For one, this would almost certainly resolve the concerns about Rachel’s character.
While Markle is still very unlikely to make an appearance even in a movie, as she does truly seem to have stepped away from acting, it would be much easier to have a succinct, focused story in a movie that doesn’t include Rachel than it would be to have many episodes that all need to explain Rachel’s absence.
Even beyond Rachel’s character, a Suits movie may very well be the best approach for the franchise to take, particularly in light of the cancelation of Suits L.A. Suits season 10 may not suffer the same fate as the spin-off series because it would feature the beloved original cast, but a change in direction may not be a bad idea.
A Suits movie may very well be the best approach for the franchise to take.
At present, this is entirely speculative, as there are no official plans for Suits to return at all. However, with the challenges Meghan Markle’s absence would pose, it may be best for Suits to return not with season 10 but rather as a movie.
Suits
7/10
Release Date
2011 – 2019
Network
USA Network
Showrunner
Aaron Korsh
Directors
Anton Cropper, Michael Smith, Christopher Misiano, Kevin Bray, Roger Kumble, Silver Tree, Cherie Nowlan, John Scott, Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Emile B. Levisetti, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Valerie Weiss, James Whitmore Jr., Jennifer Getzinger, Kate Dennis, Terry McDonough, Maurice Marable, Adam Davidson, David Platt, Dennie Gordon, Gregor Jordan, Julian Holmes, Kate Woods
Writers
Aaron Korsh, Genevieve Sparling, Daniel Arkin, Ethan Drogin, Sharyn Rothstein, Jon Cowan, Erica Lipez, Justin Peacock, Nora Zuckerman, Lilla Zuckerman, Chris Downey, Garrett Schabb, Kristin Rusk Robinson, Sean Jablonski, Ian Deitchman, Paul Redford, Michael L. Kramer
Gabriel Macht
Harvey Specter
