For almost a decade now, we watched Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) rule the world of corporate law on Suits. The USA drama began as a “two-hander” between Harvey and his protégè, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), who was hired to Harvey’s prestigious law firm as a first-year associate despite never graduating college, let alone getting a law license.
Over the years, the show evolved to be more about the lawyers at the firm who became best friends and then eventually family. Mike’s bogus credentials got discovered Season 6, three years ago, which got him sent to prison; when he got out, he became a lawyer for real. He then moved to Seattle to be his own man and fight for the people who needed him, rather than the corporations that repressed them.
Mike’s absence allowed Harvey to finally see that his secretary-turned-COO, Donna (Sarah Rafferty) was his true ride-or-die. The two finally consummated their will-they-won’t-they relationship at the end of Season 8, and spent the final season figuring out what their lives would be like together. The series concluded with them making the decision to get married and make their promises of being together official in the eyes of God.
“I thought it was beautiful that it all wrapped up in that moment of decision, and to make things exciting, and to really fulfill something that he had been wanting to do,” Macht said to TV Guide about the big moment for the couple. “Asking Donna to marry him seemed right for the finale.”
While the wedding was definitely on the fan fantasy list for how the show should end, they might not have expected Harvey and Donna to decide after the ceremony to move to Seattle to take on the big guys with Mike.
“There’s the great possibility for fans to think, ‘Oh, he’s going to go work with Mike now. They’re going to work for the everyman and, Harvey’s really was in the right place the whole time,'” Macht explained. “I thought it all worked out great, I think to write all of that and to fit it in these last 10 episodes, I think was remarkable, and hopefully the fans will all buy it.”
However, the show couldn’t move on to the future without paying homage to its roots. Before Donna and Harvey said goodbye to the firm that they had called home, Mike made one more visit to “interview” Harvey for his new job. The exchange was almost a word-for-word replaying of Mike’s job interview years beforehand and a pitch-perfect way to throwback to the start of the Suits adventure.
“I thought it was a great bookending, the whole series. It started as a two-hander, and, not that it ended as a two-hander, but that we book end this series with those two interviews…I still have a bit of a giggle that both of them would remember word for word what they said to each other nine years ago,” Macht said. “But to have reverence for that, and, I think people want to see moments that are familiar and nostalgic, I think it was a great way to see those two characters finalize sort of their relationship moving forward.”
Of course saying goodbye in character came with its challenges behind the scenes as well. As the lawyers at the firm grew closer, so did the actors and crew who have made this show for the past nine years. Macht and Rafferty were the last ones to wrap on the series, which meant every day they had to say goodbye to another member of their family.
“We were all trying just to keep our sh– together…What was hard was Sarah and I — we shot every day on this episode, and we shot up to the very end. We saw all of our ensemble sort of wrap out before us, each one of them. Each time they were wrapped out, it was like, ‘Okay, this is the last time we’re going to be acting with this scene partner for a long time, maybe forever, who knows?'” he recounted. “That was what was moving for me.”
The series wrapped earlier this summer, and while fans will miss it dearly, Macht is ready for a break from Harvey Specter to focus on his own life.
“I need to take some time out for me and for my family and I’m looking to really invest in my wife and my kids and in myself in just learning about the world and what is outside of Suits, what is outside of the Pearson world,” he said when asked how long he wanted to wait before potentially re-entering the world. “I think it’ll be a while until, if ever, if I come back to Harvey. We’ll see. It may be that this is it. This is the time to allow the fans to really sort of think, ‘Where did these guys go? Where did Mike and Harvey go and what did they do?’…I’ll never say never, but for now, I think I’m going to take a wide berth from him and invest in some other characters, too when I come back to work.”
