Why Gina Torres Isn’t in the ‘Suits’ Series Finale and How to Watch Her Spinoff

Have you managed to finish Suits yet? It's the show of the summer, despite having ended four years ago. Viewers have been flocking to Netflix and Peacock to binge the quirky lawyer drama, which was one of the defining series of USA Network's Blue Skies era and lasted for nine seasons (only eight of which are on Netflix, for some reason).

When Suits launched, it centered on a law firm called Pearson Hardman, co-founded by Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres). Jessica served as a mentor and ally to Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) for six seasons (plus a few episodes in Season 7) until Mike Ross' (Patrick J. Adams) big lie and her support of it came back to bite her and she got disbarred. She was a vital part of both the firm and the show, and so it's sort of strange that by the time the series finale rolled around, she was nowhere to be seen. Why would she not return to help the firm deal with Faye, the big bad boss threatening to tear it apart? Why wouldn't she attend Louis Litt's (Richard Hoffman) wedding? Turns out she was very busy in Chicago with her very own show.

What is 'Pearson?'

After being disbarred, Jessica is shown moving to Chicago and getting a job as a fixer for the mayor in the Season 7 finale of Suits. That's also the episode where Mike and Rachel (Meghan Markle) got married and left the series.

Jessica's new job in Chicago serves as the basis for the Suits spinoff series, Pearson. That show aired simultaneously with the final season of Suits and was fairly well reviewed (72% on Rotten Tomatoes), but it lasted only one season.

Pearson also starred Bethany Joy Lenz, Morgan Spector, Chantel Riley, Simon Kassianides, Eli Goree and Isabel Arraiza.

Why Gina Torres didn't return for the 'Suits' series finale

After the Suits finale aired in September 2019, series creator Aaron Korsh explained in multiple interviews why Jessica didn't come back to help the firm get out of a bind and attend Louis' wedding. The main issue was that Pearson took place directly after the Suits Season 7 finale, meaning it was a couple of years behind the Suits timeline, and the two shows also had very different tones.

Here's what Korsh told Entertainment Weekly at the time: "Look, if Pearson didn't exist, I would've had Jessica come in and help them get rid of Faye. But because Pearson was on the air and these shows were airing back-to-back on the same night, I felt like if I was a viewer watching TV, and one minute I'm seeing Jessica up to her eyeballs in intrigue and back dealings and fighting for the life of the city on Pearson, and then in the very next show acting like none of that is happening, and she's just in here waltzing in and saving the day and yucking it up at a wedding, it would lose the credibility that Pearson had. We worked very hard on that show, and I was so proud of it, and that was the struggle. I just didn't want to mess with the integrity of Pearson to service Suits. I didn't think that was right."

Korsh went on to explain that he had written a phone call scene with Harvey and Jessica, but it was written too late and scheduling didn't work out.

How to watch 'Pearson'

The first and only season of Pearson is streaming on Peacock, along with the entirety of Suits. The first eight seasons of Suits are also streaming on Netflix.