NBC Exec Explains Suits LA Cancellation: 'Tough Choices Were Necessary'

*Suits* has been a beloved series since it first aired on USA Network back in 2011, captivating fans for nearly 15 years. The show enjoyed a significant revival in recent years, thanks to its full availability on Netflix, sparking countless binge-watching sessions. However, this surge in popularity wasn't enough to keep the new spin-off, *Suits LA*, afloat. The series was abruptly canceled after just one season, as announced with the release of NBC's fall schedule. Jeff Bader, the president of program planning strategy at NBC, 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 shared with Variety following the public release of the fall schedule. He continued, “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 decision-making process: “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 mentioned that NBCUniversal considers transferring canceled network shows to Peacock, their streaming service. Unfortunately, *Suits LA* did not receive the go-ahead for such a move.

When discussing the shows that managed to stay on the schedule, Bader highlighted the criteria used: “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 ran 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. The new show also featured appearances from original *Suits* cast members like 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. The final episode of *Suits LA* aired on May 11, 2025.