Last month, I had the opportunity to visit the Suits set in Toronto and participate in round table interviews with the cast. One major takeaway from the interviews was that there will be a shift in focus for the second season. The first season was primarily the story of Harvey and Mike, while the second season will have a wider focus on the firm as a whole.
This means more Jessica, Donna, and Rachel! On Suits, the women aren’t used simply as eye candy. They are strong, brilliant and dedicated females. And, as an added bonus, not bad to look at either. They hold their own against the men and often times get the best of them!
In the premiere, one of my favorite scenes is a heart-to-heart between Donna and Rachel in the Pearson Hardman bathroom. Their developing friendship is sure to be a highlight of this season.
Gina Torres, Sarah Rafferty, and Meghan Markle provided some insight into their characters for season two.
Are the ladies going to have a little bit more of a lead role this season?
Megan Markle: Yeah, I mean we’ve been lucky, I think, from the onset. They write so well for the women that we have a lot of layers and they’re all strong and, you know, Donna knows everything. … But I think, definitely we have a lot of fun and there is a scene coming up with Donna and Rachel drunk in a bar together. Yeah, there’s a lot of fun stuff going on for the gals.
On Jessica:
Gina Torres: I like to think of Jessica in the first season is being you know large, in charge, in control and kind of happy-go-lucky, this is her domain she just struts down this hallway and – and she’s – she’s in vulnerable. And now we see we start to see the little chinks in the armor and the scars. And any woman who gets to that office, any person who gets to that office, has some battle scars and has some uh bodies buried in places.
On Rachel:
Megan: I think at the [beginning], certainly the pilot, Rachel is a lot more hardened than she is at this point and I think that vulnerability came out mostly because of Mike Ross I would say, but I know in this season because we’re exploring the other friendships that she has with Sarah Rafferty’s Donna and, of course, this new dynamic, we’re meeting a lot more of who she really is and, yeah, I would say just trying to find a way that Rachel can become a lawyer, which is my hope for her, at the firm, but also just, you know, that she’s more open to love, to friendship, to being vulnerable in a way that we didn’t see as much last season.
On Donna:
Sarah Rafferty: … sometimes a person’s greatest quality can be their biggest flaw and, she’s intensely loyal and brave in her loyalty. She’s sort of doggedly loyal.
Donna isn’t always right!
Sarah: [Donna] totally gets it wrong. And I think that’s incredibly confusing to her. I think she’s just always been right, always dotted all, you know, dotted her t’s and crossed her I’s. [LAUGH] And, she’s really, really thrown by something that happens. I was told by one of the writers that it doesn’t really resolve for, for a few episodes, that kind of lingering confusion and doubt and, remorse are there. It’s a good opportunity for that mask to kind of fall. I mean, Donna loves putting on different masks. She’s an actress. She likes role playing in that way, in an actory way. Um, and, uh, you can see that. You get a chance to see that fall away.
The ladies of Suits are definitely looking to be a highlight of the second season. But, Meghan said they have an idea for their own spinoff, “I know the girls, we all joke about the spinoff will be Skirts.” I could get behind that show!
Suits returns tonight, June 14th at 9 pm CT/ 10 pm ET. Check back for more interviews from the Suits set visit.
Also, make sure to stop by and enter our Suits giveway!
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Jun 14, 2012 @ 12:53 EST5EDT
Been play’n the first season DVDs to death. Still wondering why Harvey thinks its O.K. to drink Jessica’s scotch after she has walked away from the drink? Looking very much forward to the new season.