“The Lincoln Lawyer” is filming the second episode of Season 4, and the Lincoln Lawyer himself, Mickey Haller, played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, sits at the defense table in the courtroom that’s been carefully recreated at L.A. Center Studios. Watching from the stands is Legal Siegel (Elliot Gould) — a retired attorney who serves as Mickey’s father figure and consigliere.
As filming pauses to flip the cameras to face the other direction in the courtroom, new cast member Constance Zimmer takes a break near the monitors. She’s still getting used to her hairstyle for the role: a severe-looking set of bangs. But they’re important to help telegraph her character’s buttoned-up personality. “I care about being authentic,” Zimmer says.
As ruthless prosecutor Dana Berg, Zimmer is channeling an attorney who cut her teeth a few decades ago, so she’s also decked out in gold aviator glasses and a conservative camel blazer.
Production is proceeding in fits and starts, the way shooting always does. When Garcia-Rulfo flubs a line, he sighs, “Ay, ¡Dios mío!”
After the crew calls “tailsticks” to denote the slate clapping at the end of the take instead of the beginning, a PA circulates among the cast and crew with a pink box, passing out an assortment of donuts that just a few hours ago served as tasty props in small but crucial scene for a case that Mickey’s associate Lorna is handling.
Season 4, which premieres Thursday on Netflix, picks up where a cliffhanger left off at the end of show’s third season: Mickey has just been pulled over by a traffic cop, ostensibly for a missing license plate, but when the cop finds the dead body of conman Sam Scales in the trunk, Mickey is arrested for murder and thrown in jail. The season revolves around Mickey’s quest to defend himself — while in prison — and to be cleared of all wrongdoing to protect his reputation.
Garcia-Rulfo shot to stardom — and into a leading role in last summer’s blockbuster, “Jurassic World: Rebirth” — when he was cast as the lead of the Netflix series. Four seasons in, he’s mastered the complex legal language the scripts require, not to mention nurturing a deep knowledge of restaurants near the downtown studio. (He’s a fan of Moo’s Barbecue, Leo’s Tacos, Kismet and Saffy’s.)
“This is a really emotional season,” says co-showrunner Dailyn Rodriguez, “He’s fighting for his life.” She’s referring to the high stakes for Mickey as he battles for his freedom while he juggles his two ex-wives, his daughter’s fear about his arrest and numerous surprises in the courtroom.
Meanwhile, his newly-minted legal associate, ex-wife Lorna (Becki Newton), must keep the firm afloat, while investigator Cisco (Angus Sampson) gets into hot water helping Mickey gather evidence, assistant Izzy (Jazz Raycole) makes a new friend at law school and Mickey’s daughter Hayley (Krista Warner) confronts the stigma of her father’s arrest. Though getting arrested is likely to crimp Mickey’s dating life, his other ex-wife, prosecutor Maggie (Neve Campbell), will play a more significant role this season.
It’s only fitting that “The Lincoln Lawyer” films at L.A. Center studios, since the city of Los Angeles is the beating heart of the popular Netflix legal thriller. When the series began, Mickey was just getting back into business as the Lincoln Lawyer, who started out conducting his law practice out of his car trunk. But his offices on Soundstage One are a big step up, with a reception area, a comfy bed for Lorna’s pug Winston and Mickey Haller’s sleekly-furnished private office. Also on the lot are a jail set complete with two-story catwalk and a full courtroom set-up, while temporary sets like a donut shop are improvised in other corners of the studios.
Mickey’s treasured 1963 Nocturne blue Lincoln Continental convertible with “NTGUILTY” plates is safely tucked away in the studio’s underground parking garage. Parked outside the soundstages are a gardener’s truck that Cisco has acquired to blend in more easily when he’s conducting investigations around the city and the armored Lincoln Navigator with “IWalkEm” plates that Mickey alternates with the vintage convertible.
Although much of this season takes place in the courtroom and jail, the production also traveled around Southern California, from San Pedro’s scenic bridges to an East L.A. bakery and a Palm Springs motel, plus downtown landmarks like the historic Bradbury Building and the striking mid-century DWP building, which doubles for the courthouse.
“We try and showcase L.A.,” says Rodriguez. “We love shooting in real places — restaurants, bars, parks. It’s a celebration of the city.”
Garcia-Rulfo, who had supporting roles in “The Magnificent Seven” and “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,” didn’t think he had a shot at nailing the lead role when he first auditioned.
“I was like, I’m never gonna get this,” says the Mexico-born actor after the day wraps on the set. “It’s a lawyer from L.A. In the novels he’s part Mexican, but still, I was like — I don’t know, the English, the accent. TV moves so fast, and Mickey carries the show and it’s all those legal terms, so it’s very challenging.”
Garcia-Rulfo explains how Mickey’s growing maturity helps as he fights bigger battles this time around.
“Mickey is always struggling with the case, but then the wives are always kind of messing things up,” Garcia-Rulfo says. “He’s got the very Mexican mom. She treats him like a child. But he is more mature. He has learned a lot about his mistakes. Especially in Season 2, he became very cocky at the beginning because he won that big case.”
In the first three seasons, the twice-divorced attorney was a bit of a ladies’ man, though it wasn’t always easy to fit in a love life with his busy career. His judgment really faltered in Season 2 when he got involved with restaurant owner Lisa Trammel, who turned out to be a murderer. But though they’re divorced, he’s frequently in touch with Maggie, a principled deputy district attorney.
Garcia-Rulfo admits his character might still be holding a torch for the mother of his daughter Hayley. “In this season, Maggie comes back and she’s very involved in the case,” he says. “There’s always some sparks there. She really brings that subtlety — you can see that warmth, even though you don’t see it in the words.”
Just as importantly, Mickey’s relationship with Hayley will be tested this season, as she grapples with what it means to have a father in jail and faces fallout from her peer group.
“He has to deal with the weight of knowing how hard this is on her,” says co-showrunner Ted Humphrey. “This is the worst thing that she’s ever had to go through. The kid has the horrible thought that she might lose her dad.”
Not only does “The Lincoln Lawyer” frequently showcase iconic L.A. locations and restaurants, the team is determined to depict the city with an authentic degree of diversity, starting with Mickey’s heritage.
“It’s very much like Los Angeles really is, and that’s why it’s such a cool city because it’s very diverse. It is very brave, I think, for the showrunners be like, OK, let’s put a Mexican actor in this courtroom drama show and see if it works,” says Garcia-Rulfo.
“One of the things that I loved about this show when I got involved is that the lead is Latino and he lives in a very Latino city,” Rodriguez says. “So for us, it’s pretty easy to make it not only Latino but very multicultural the way that L.A. is. Our courthouses are always full of very different people — people that look like they would live in Los Angeles.”
This season, Rodriguez, who has written for shows such as “Ugly Betty” and “Queen of the South,” makes her directing debut on Episode 7. The finale, meanwhile, is directed by Jennifer Lynch.
No spoilers, but it’s fair to say that since the last season ended with a body being found in the trunk of Mickey’s Lincoln as he headed out of town for a breather, it might be a while before he gets to see it again. But Garcia-Rulfo says driving the 1963 convertible around town has been a dream.
“I love it, but every time we shoot in the street, it is very hard because they recognize it and you’re afraid somebody’s going to hit it when you’re driving. But it’s such a beautiful car. I love shooting those scenes, especially on the coast, driving on the PCH,” says Garcia-Rulfo.
The first episode this season opens with an ambitious sequence of shots sweeping across the L.A. skyline to zoom in on the aftermath of a crime in Boyle Heights, making for a completely different kind of shoot from a contained courtroom day.
“Tomorrow we’ll have a very big day of location,” says Humphrey. “We’re doing a very intricate scene — probably in terms of scope, one of the biggest sequences we’ve ever done on the show. We’re going to have a helicopter, we’re going to have drones, all sorts of things going on and it’ll be on location, downtown and in East L.A., and then on the coast, we’re kind of zipping all over the place. So that will be the complete opposite of today – you won’t be able to control anything.”
Despite the pressure, it’s a relief to be deep in the swing of long days of production across the city. The season got off to an unexpected start when the Los Angeles fires broke out during final pre-production in January 2025.
“It really did feel very good to be able to provide work for people and provide stability. We had a number of people involved in our show who lost their homes,” recalls Humphrey. (Among those affected: “Lincoln Lawyer” author Michael Connelly.)
“After these fires and the tragedy that the city has gone through, it was really important for us to go back to work, to put people to work, and do another season where we celebrate the city and how much we love it,” Rodriguez says. And now they’ll have another chance to put people to work — the series has already been renewed for Season 5 ahead of the Season 4 premiere.
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