If Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer gets picked up for season 4, showrunner Dailyn Rodriguez has teased an answer to Harry Bosch’s absence that could fix the issue long-term. The popular legal drama adapts Michael Connelly’s titular novels, which center on defense attorney Mickey Haller. However, this isn’t his only best-selling series. Connelly is equally, if not more, famous for his Harry Bosch books.

As the half-brother of Mickey Haller, Bosch appears in every The Lincoln Lawyer book, minus the first one, to varying degrees. The ex-police officer and private investigator helps Mickey with his cases. Unfortunately, The Lincoln Lawyer hasn’t been able to include the character because of Amazon Prime Video’s Bosch show and spinoff. The streaming platform owns exclusive rights to the character, so the Netflix show cannot use Bosch. Luckily, the showrunners for The Lincoln Lawyer already have plans on how to handle the situation in season 4.

The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 Hints At A Bosch Replacement Character

The Netflix Series Could Introduce A New Character To Fill In The Gap

When interviewing Dailyn Rodriguez about The Lincoln Lawyer on behalf of Screen Rant, I asked the co-showrunner about the plans to handle the absence of Mickey’s half-brother Bosch. This is especially pressing since he has a more prominent role in Michael Connelly’s The Law of Innocence book, on which the fourth season will be based. Bosch, Cisco, and Maggie all play an important role in Mickey’s defense. Here is what Rodriguez had to say about The Lincoln Lawyer season 4:

“Yeah, it’s just unfortunate because we don’t own that character. Netflix didn’t own the character, so we can’t do any crossovers. I would be giving a spoiler if I told you what we were going to do, but we definitely have an idea of how we can bring in someone else that could play the Bosch in a future season.

This response hints that The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 could introduce a new character to fill the story arc of Bosch in The Law of Innocence. Ideally, they would keep this character around at the end of The Lincoln Lawyer season 4, since Mickey Haller’s half-brother has a significant role in two of the three books that haven’t been adapted yet. If not, they would probably face the same issue all over again in future seasons. Ultimately, the new Bosch-like character is one of the many reasons to be excited about The Lincoln Lawyer season 4.

How The Lincoln Lawyer Has Successfully Handled Not Having Bosch In The Show

The Lincoln Lawyer Has Found Ways To Manage Bosch’s Absence

Though Harry Bosch plays an essential role in Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer book series, Dailyn Rodriguez and Ted Humphrey have managed to handle his absence well thus far. This is partly due to the fact Bosch only plays a prominent role in the book on which The Lincoln Lawyer season 1 is based. He’s relatively minor in the source material for seasons 2 and 3.

The Lincoln Lawyer Books That Prominently Feature Harry Bosch

Title
Release Year
Season of The Lincoln Lawyer

The Brass Verdict
2008
Season 1

The Reversal
2010
N/A

The Law of Innocence
2020
Season 4

Resurrection Walk
2023
N/A

The showrunners handled the major book change in The Lincoln Lawyer season 1 by shifting his part of the storyline onto two other characters. They created Los Angeles Police Department Detective Griggs, who helps with some parts of the investigation. Additionally, The Lincoln Lawyer season 1 featured Cisco more heavily, giving him more responsibilities. This filled the gaps effectively while making Cisco more integral to the story.