NBC Exec on Suits LA Cancellation: 'Hard Decisions Were Necessary'

*Suits*, a beloved series that premiered on USA back in 2011, has enjoyed a remarkable run over nearly 15 years. Its recent availability on Netflix sparked a major resurgence, fueling countless binge-watching marathons. However, the excitement surrounding the original show did not translate to the new spin-off, *Suits LA*, which was abruptly canceled following the release of NBC’s fall schedule. Jeff Bader, NBCUniversal's president of program planning strategy, shed light on the decision to pull the plug.

“It’s so hard to talk about shows and which ones you bring back, and *Suits* had a very short run, but it really just has not resonated the way we thought it would,” Bader explained to Variety after the fall schedule was made public. “There can be many, many reasons why, people are speculating why it hasn’t resonated, but it’s just not really showing the potential to grow for us in the future, unfortunately.”

Suits LA was canceled after just one season. Photo by: Nicole Weingart/NBC via Getty Images.

The executive further elaborated on the tough decisions they faced: “And it’s those decisions we had to make. We had to look at the performance of the shows, both on linear and on digital. We had to see the ones that looked like they had growth potential in the future. So we’re looking at how stable they are on their linear performance, how stable they are on digital, which ones are growing and which ones are declining. And we had to make some hard decisions.”

Bader also noted that NBCUniversal considers transferring canceled network shows to Peacock, but *Suits LA* did not receive the green light for such a move.

When it comes to the shows that made the cut, Bader outlined the criteria that made them appealing to the network: “We looked at what their performance was week-to-week, episode-to-episode, on both linear and digital, to just try and glean which ones we thought had the best ratings story,” he told the outlet. “And then on the creative side, the creative teams did the same thing. Which ones have the most potential, or the best potential, to capture a new audience? And these were the two shows that made their way to the top.”

*Suits* originally aired for nine seasons from 2011 to 2019. The revival series, *Suits LA*, premiered in February and starred Stephen Amell, Lex Scott Davis, Josh McDermitt, and Bryan Greenberg. It also featured appearances by original *Suits* cast members such as Rick Hoffman, David Costabile, and leading man Gabriel Macht. Aaron Korsh, the creator of *Suits*, also served as the creator and executive producer of the spinoff, which aired its final episode on May 11, 2025.