Written by 3 years ago TV/Series

Showrunner Aaron Korsh Originally Planned for Jessica to be Murdered on ‘Suits’

Showrunner Aaron Korsh Originally Planned for Jessica to be Murdered on 'Suits'

Was Jessica Pearson supposed to bite the dust in a brutal twist on Suits?

After nine years of the beloved legal drama, Suits drew to a close on the USA Network in September 2019.

There were, however, several shocks intended by Aaron Korsh over the course of the nine seasons that never made it to the final cut.

One of the big ones was Jessica Pearson‘s apparent death that never happened.

Showrunner Aaron Korsh never hesitated to offer a variety of surprises for his favorite characters, but none of them would be more staggering than his decision to murder Jessica Pearson (portrayed by Gina Torres).

Thankfully, the plan was scrapped while the actress went to the star in her own spin-off series, but for a while, it seemed like her character was going to meet a tragic demise.

Jessica Pearson was among the original cast members who featured since the premiere of Suits in the very first season. As the managing director of the law firm, fans witnessed her story throughout several seasons before she decided to leave the firm.

Choosing not to extend her contract, actress Gina Torres quit the show in the season 6 mid-season finale titled P.S.L.

Fans will recall she left following a rather distressing case in which she saved the life of Rachel Zane‘s (Meghan Markle) death row inmate.

You Might Like: Jim Parsons Almost Played Barney Stinson on ‘How I Met Your Mother’

She relocated to Chicago with her partner Jeff Malone (D.B. Woodside) to seek a new life there. Her story arc, though, would have gone in a completely different route if Korsh had gotten his way.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter back in 2016, Korsh disclosed when Torres sought to leave, his original plan was to kill off her character.

He told the publication:

In my mind, Jessica was going to make this decision to go off into the sunset with Jeff Malone, and that father Larry Marsden (Colin Glazer), who was a little bit crazy and accosted Rachel and got broken on the stand, was going to bring a gun and go nuts and kill her.

The creator revealed,

I didn’t think we were going to see it, we were going to hear about it. It was going to shatter everyone and we were going to do a two-year time jump afterward.

He then explained the twist was influenced by the plot of M*A*S*H* when Colonel Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) quit the show. Fortunately, however, Korsh’s decision was not approved by the network who were against the idea.

He continued,

The network didn’t want that to happen and they kind of let me know that. They’ve always been good at being collaborative and supportive and hearing me out on something I wanted to do if I felt very strongly about it.

But we were so under the gun with timing that I didn’t really feel like planning two endings. When we got into the writing of the episode, we just decided to let her have a happy ending.

This turned out to be a rather fortunate move as Jessica went on to star in her own spin-off show called Pearson, albeit it got canceled following the conclusion of the debut season.

The spin-off show follows the character of Jessica Pearson as she adjusts to life in Chicago and becomes embroiled in the dirty world of politics.

Visit BAE Magazine for more interesting news about your favorite shows.

Visited 30 times, 1 visit(s) today

Last modified: January 4, 2021

Close