SPOILERS for Season 3 of The Lincoln Lawyer are ahead! If you aren’t caught up, you can stream the series with a Netflix subscription.

Right as I was beginning to think Mickey Haller might finally find some peace after a wild season of The Lincoln Lawyer, a twist happened, and low and behold we are now hanging off a very dangerous cliff. Thankfully, after seeing Mickey framed for murder, I had the opportunity to speak with co-showrunner Dailyn Rodriguez about it. So, let’s break it all down.

Before we dive into the specifics though, let’s go over how the season that aired on the 2024 TV schedule wrapped up. Following an action-packed season that was filled with losses (I’m still not over Eddie) and wins (like Julian winning his case and Lorna passing the BAR), there was a time jump that showed Mickey driving in his signature Lincoln. While cruising down the road, he was pulled over and a cop pointed out that his license plate was missing. Then, things escalated quickly as blood was seen dripping out of the car, and then Sam Scales was found dead in Mickey’s trunk.

Now, our main man is facing jail time, even though he’s innocent. And to reflect on all that, Rodriguez and I had an in-depth conversation about her seriously binge-able Netflix series.

(Image credit: Lara Solanki/Netflix)

Why They Chose Sam Scales As The Victim

OK, let’s start with the victim in this case. Sam Scales was found dead in the trunk of Mickey’s Lincoln. As you might remember, he’s a client of the lawyer, and in Season 3, Lorna took him on as her first solo case. Now, his murder will be at the center of what’s coming next for the show (assuming it gets renewed), as Rodrigez explained to me:

In The Law of Innocence, Sam Scales is in the trunk of Mickey’s car. So we based it on that. We were thinking about a different book sort of halfway through the season, and then we decided that this would just be a much more interesting cliffhanger and more exciting. So we seeded Sam Scales earlier in Episode 7, where Lorna is his lawyer, to sort of remind the audience again about Sam and bring him back into The Lincoln Lawyer family, only to kill him.

So, we now know the significance of this choice. Sam Scales is notably the victim in Michael Connelly’s 2020 book The Law of Innocence. That book – and minor book spoilers are ahead – follows Mickey in prison as he defends himself and tries to prove his innocence.

However, while it sounds like a fourth season would follow this plot, the showrunner did tell me that they changed a bit about Scales for the show. She said they didn’t make him as “nefarious” as he is in the books, and I get why, as she explained:

In the books, Sam Scales is a lot more nefarious…His scams are really, really terrible. They’re like really, like you would have no empathy for him. We’ve sort of, because of the tone of the show, we’ve lightened his scams a little bit to make them less – they’re still terrible, but not as bad as they are in the book.

We did get to see some of his scams in Season 3, and I’m curious to see how Lorna representing him will impact Mickey’s situation. However, overall, what this choice indicates is the book that Season 4 would follow. To that point, Dailyn Rodriguez and I spoke more about what could happen next as Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s character heads to prison.

(Image credit: Lara Solanki/Netflix)

How Julian’s Case Will Impact Mickey’s Prison Experience

In Season 3 of The Lincoln Lawyer – which dominated on Netflix, by the way – we witnessed the heart-pounding story of Mickey defending his innocent client Julian LaCosse. We saw the toll this case took on our lead lawyer, his team and specifically Julian as he spent time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

So, while speaking with the showrunner, I asked her how this case could inform Mickey’s experience as he’s now set to defend his own innocence. In response, Dailyn Rodriguez said:

That’s what’s really appealing about Mickey, is that especially for like a Season 4 you really see him going through the paces with Julian. And then he is going to step into the same shoes and really understand – he already sort of is, I think, mentally prepared about what’s about to happen, because he knows he’s an innocent man. So, I think that that’s a fascinating character turn for him in a Season 4.

I also find this to be a fascinating character turn. This season especially, we really saw Mickey start to question the dangers of his work and his future as a lawyer. However, now times are dier and he’s going to have to use everything he’s learned to prove his innocence.

Thankfully, he won Julian’s case, and he fought so hard to save him. I do not doubt that he’ll do the same thing for himself, and I also feel like it’s a given that Izzy, Lorna and Cisco will be by his side fighting along with him.

(Image credit: Lara Solanki/Netflix)

Why The Crime Scene Being Mickey’s Lincoln Is So Sad

Obviously, Mickey being framed for a murder he didn’t commit in the final moments of this release on Netflix’s 2024 schedule is horrifically sad. However, to make matters even worse, the crime scene is his prized Lincoln.

Remember, this season started with a flashback that showed Mickey with Maggie at the beach happily talking about their life, his convertible and a kid named Eddie babysitting their daughter. Well, at the end of Season 3, Eddie is dead, Maggie and Mickey are on OK terms but not together, and the Lincoln is a crime scene. Talk about tragic!

To that point, Rodriguez told me that we haven’t seen the last of the “trauma with the Lincolns:”

If we get a chance, we’re gonna play even more trauma with the Lincolns. More Lincoln drama in Season 4, for sure. I mean, that’s like his baby. I think it sort of amazingly worked, naturally, how we bookend the show, which is like seeing that Lincoln and that flashback, like, that’s his dream, and his dream becomes his nightmare at the end of the season is a really interesting metaphor for this character.

At the end of Season 3, it kind of feels that everything Mickey loves has either been lost or corrupted, and what happens with the Lincoln is a metaphor for that. So, as we hopefully move into Season 4, I’m curious to learn more about why his beloved car was chosen as the crime scene.

Overall, my conversation with Dailyn Rodriguez was incredibly informative. However, it also left me with so much to think about as we wait and see if The Lincoln Lawyer gets renewed for Season 4. I was already hoping it would, but now, kind of knowing what Mickey is facing, I’m desperate to see what happens next!