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'The Lincoln Lawyer' spin-off in the works at Netflix with 'How I Met Your Mother' star in the lead

'The Lincoln Lawyer' universe is set to expand as the original show gears up to conclude with Season 5

Though 'The Lincoln Lawyer' is ending with its upcoming season, its world may live on on Netflix. According to Deadline, a spin-off series starring 'How I Met Your Mother' star Cobie Smulders is currently in the works at Netflix. Smulders was introduced to 'The Lincoln Lawyer' fans last season as Mickey Haller’s half-sister Artemisia 'Emi' Finch, and she will be the star of the new show. Speculation about the spin-off was rife even before the streamer announced that 'The Lincoln Lawyer' will end with Season 5. The team plans to film the spin-off in Los Angeles if the show qualifies for the state's tax credit.

The script for the untitled spin-off is being penned by the EPs of the original series, Ted Humphrey, Dailyn Rodriguez, and Matthew J. Lieberman. A+E Studios is on board as producers. The concept was recently pitched to Netflix, and as per the publication, the streamer loved it and quickly ordered a script. The spin-off will reportedly be greenlit by the streamer only when the team closes deals with important parties involved. The fact that Netflix is interested in a spin-off is not surprising considering the series' performance over the years. The drama series has apparently garnered 171 million views since 2023. The spin-off keeps the lucrative universe on the streamer, even after the OG show bids farewell to fans. 

At the end of Season 4, fans saw Emi approaching Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). She caught up with him in the grocery store's parking lot and confirmed his identity. Immediately after, she saved him from the assailants attacking him. Then, she revealed to Mickey, “I’m your sister.” Humphrey added that Emi is an important part of the next season. The EP told TV Insider that she is “the vehicle through which the main story of another season will come to Mickey, that she needs his help with something, basically. And there’s a whole twisted story as to why that is, and that part of the fun of that season would be unraveling what that is and what it means.”

The upcoming season's synopsis also backs Humphrey's assertion. “Mickey Haller’s world is upended when the half-sister he never knew existed, Emi (Cobie Smulders), comes to him with a plea to help free a wrongfully convicted woman. In a season defined by blood ties and buried secrets, Mickey takes on a grueling habeas petition to overturn a six-year-old murder conviction, but the deeper he digs, the more nefarious the forces arrayed against him become," the logline reads. "Meanwhile, the stakes rise for his trusted team as Lorna (Becki Newton), Izzy (Jazz Raycole), and Cisco (Angus Sampson) step up to tackle high-profile challenges of their own. Having just saved himself from a wrongful conviction in Season 4, Mickey is now determined to set right an enormous miscarriage of justice. But as he unravels a dangerous web of corruption and lies, he must grapple with the fractured legacy of his family — both his chosen family and the family he never knew he had.” Smulders has been promoted to regular status for the upcoming season. All episodes of 'The Lincoln Lawyer' are currently streaming on Netflix.