David E. Kelley is returning once more to the court of legal dramas.
CBS has issued a series production commitment for “The Lincoln Lawyer,” with Kelley in position to pen and executive produce.
Based on the series of bestselling novels by Michael Connelly, the show hails from A+E Studios in association with CBS TV Studios. It will center around Mickey Haller, an iconoclastic idealist who runs his law practice out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car, as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles.
Connelly’s original “The Lincoln Lawyer” novel, which came out in 2006, was adapted for the big screen in 2011 with Matthew McConaughey playing Haller. The Brad Furman film was a box office hit and also starred Marisa Tomei in the role of Haller’s ex-wife Maggie McPherson. There is yet no word on who will be playing the maverick criminal defense attorney in this new series.
A “Lincoln Lawyer” series was previously in the works at ABC, with the network ordering a script from Lionsgate following the movie’s release 2011, however, that project never made it to screen.
Kelley, who is arguably best known for writing “Big Little Lies,” has plenty of precedent in the legal series domain, having created “Harry’s Law” at NBC, “The Practice” and “Boston Legal” at ABC, and “Ally McBeal” at Fox. His collaborations with CBS include the 1992 series “Picket Fences,” which ran for three season on the network, as well as the medical drama “Chicago Hope” and more recently “The Crazy Ones” which starred Robin Williams.
Connelly and Ross Fineman are also set as executive producers on “The Lincoln Lawyer.” If the prospective series makes it to air, it will be the second show based on Connelly’s novels to do so after “Bosch,” which is currently five seasons in at Amazon.