Netflix, which was, seemingly to the outside at least, sentenced to a full summer's worth of disappointing season-2 ratings for legal drama The Lincoln Lawyer, has decided to keep the series on retainer for season 3.
“The audience response to the show has been so gratifying and wonderful, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to dive back into [novelist] Michael Connelly’s universe and bring Mickey Haller and his world to the screen again," said Ted Humphrey and Dailyn Rodriguez, who serve as co-show-runners and executive producers for the A+E Studios-produced series.
Not so fast.
By our calculations, using Netflix's own published ratings data, hours streamed for season 2 were off by more than 20% vs. season 1.
But then again, Netflix audience performance is down across the board these days, so the streaming company may be looking at different data sets. Specifically, Netflix is now emphasizing total "views" as opposed to hours streamed. Since Netflix didn't publish that metric in May 2022 when season 1 of The Lincoln Lawyer debuted, we have no means of comparison. (Maybe that's the point of Netflix introducing this new metric in June we don't really understand?)
"The second season of The Lincoln Lawyer premiered on July 6, 2023 and quickly climbed up the Netflix Global Top 10 with a cumulative 40 million views as of August 29, 2023, reaching the Top 10 in 81 countries," Netflix said in its press release today.
Also read: We’re Not Just Imagining It, Netflix Viewing Really Is Down From Last Year
The Lincoln Lawyer, which stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the title role as the Mexican-born, Irish/German-monikered, iconoclastic barrister Mickey Haller, was adapted from Michael Connelly's book series, and season 3 will be based on the series' fifth novel, The Gods of Guilt.
Added Peter Friedlander, VP of UCANN scripted series for Netflix: “Ted Humphrey and Dailyn Rodriguez have taken us deeper into Mickey Haller's world, building out characters and stories that have connected with our global audience, and we look forward to seeing what they have in store for everyone's favorite lawyer. The show continues to top our global lists and it's a testament to the work from a creative powerhouse team including Michael Connelly, David E. Kelley, Ross Fineman and our partners at A+E Studios."
