Cobie Smulders’ Emi Finch Leads Lincoln Lawyer Spinoff at Netflix

Netflix Is Expanding The Lincoln Lawyer Universe — With Cobie Smulders in the Lead

Mickey Haller’s world is about to get a whole lot bigger. Netflix is fast-tracking a spinoff of The Lincoln Lawyer with Cobie Smulders headlining as Artemisia “Emi” Finch — the half-sister Mickey never knew he had. Deadline broke the news, and the project is already moving at full speed: Netflix bought the pitch in the room and commissioned a script for a quick turnaround.

The spinoff has been quietly brewing for a while. Executive producers Ted Humphrey, Dailyn Rodriguez and Matthew J. Lieberman — all veterans of the mothership series — are writing the script, with A+E Studios producing. Sources say the trio pitched the concept to Netflix recently, and the streamer’s response was enthusiastic enough that things are now moving fast. The project’s green light is still contingent on closing deals with all key parties, but the momentum is unmistakable.

Who Is Emi Finch?

If you haven’t caught up with the show, here’s the quick version. Emi was introduced at the end of Season 4, and Smulders was promoted to series regular for the upcoming Season 5 — which Netflix has already confirmed will be the series’ last. In that final season, Mickey’s (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) world gets upended when the half-sister he never knew existed shows up with a plea: she wants his help freeing a wrongfully convicted woman. It’s a case Mickey takes on, determined to set right an enormous miscarriage of justice.

Here’s the fascinating part for fans of Michael Connelly’s books: Emi is an original character. She doesn’t exist in the novels the show is based on. She was created to fill a very specific void in Mickey’s family dynamic — the absence of his half-brother Harry Bosch. Because Amazon owns the rights to the Bosch character, the Lincoln Lawyer series couldn’t use him. So instead of Bosch popping up on Netflix, viewers get Emi — and it’s only fitting that while Mickey’s half-brother headlines his own Prime Video series, his half-sister now gets the same treatment on Netflix.

A Franchise That Keeps Delivering

Netflix’s confidence in the spinoff makes sense when you look at the numbers. The first four seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer have racked up an estimated 171 million views since 2023 and appeared on the Netflix Global Top 10 charts for 29 weeks. Season 4 opened with 9 million views in its debut weekend — actually up from Season 3’s 7 million, a rare feat for a show this far into its run. The production has also been a boon for Los Angeles: the series has contributed over $425 million to the California economy, employed more than 4,300 cast and crew, and filmed at more than 50 locations across the city.

For Smulders, this is a homecoming of sorts. She’s best known to a generation as Robin Scherbatsky on How I Met Your Mother, and she’s been a familiar face in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade as Maria Hill, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who became a recurring presence across the Avengers films. More recently she’s been a series regular on Apple TV+’s Shrinking, holding her own alongside Harrison Ford and Jason Segel in one of the streamer’s best-reviewed comedies. Landing her own franchise vehicle at Netflix is a significant step up the streaming ladder — and if the Emi spinoff lands, it puts her in the rare position of headlining a show inside an already-proven IP.

A Legal Drama With Genuine Charm

What makes The Lincoln Lawyer work — and why a spinoff feels like less of a gamble than it might be for another franchise — is the tone. The show takes the legal-thriller bones of Connelly’s novels and wraps them in a warm, sun-soaked Los Angeles atmosphere. Mickey Haller works out of the back of his Lincoln, chases down clients with a mix of hustle and conscience, and the series never lets the procedural machinery drown out the human stakes. It’s the rare courtroom drama that’s as much about character as it is about casework.

The casting has been a big part of that. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo brought a charm offensive to the role of Mickey, making him the kind of lawyer you’d actually want to grab a drink with even when he’s bending the rules. The supporting cast — Becki Newton as Lorna, Jazz Raycole as Izzy, Angus Sampson as Cisco — built out a family-of-choice dynamic around him that fans genuinely warmed to. That ensemble chemistry is one of the reasons Netflix kept the show in the Global Top 10 for nearly 30 weeks across its run.

A spinoff anchored by Emi has to recreate some of that magic, but it has a head start: the character is already positioned as Mickey’s family, so the emotional connective tissue exists. If the writers lean into the same mix of moral complexity and breezy LA energy, an Emi Finch series could feel like a natural extension rather than a cash grab.

The Connelly-verse Is Now Two Streamers Wide

Here’s the bigger picture worth geeking out over. Michael Connelly’s literary universe is now split across rival platforms in a way that mirrors the books themselves. Amazon’s Bosch — and its sequel series Bosch: Legacy — have been Prime Video staples for years, with Titus Welliver embodying the dogged LAPD detective. Now Netflix doubles down on the lawyer side of the family. Fans who’ve read the books know Bosch and Haller share more than blood; they share a worldview about justice. On screen, though, they’ll live on different platforms — which means the Emi spinoff has to stand on its own two feet rather than lean on Bosch cameos.

That’s arguably a good thing. A spinoff headlined by a fresh character has room to breathe. It doesn’t have to service decades of continuity, and it gives Humphrey, Rodriguez and Lieberman the chance to build something that feels like The Lincoln Lawyer but isn’t just a retread of Mickey’s cases. Given how well the show has handled courtroom drama with a warm, slightly wry tone, there’s every reason to think an Emi-led legal drama could capture the same magic.

What’s Next?

Season 5 of The Lincoln Lawyer — the final one — is expected to drop sometime next year, with Smulders as a series regular. The spinoff is in the script stage, with the tax-credit question looming: the producers want to film in Los Angeles if the project qualifies for the California tax credit, the same incentive the mothership series applied for but never received. If that comes together, expect production to move quickly.

So here’s the big question for fans: are you ready for a Lincoln Lawyer spinoff without Mickey Haller front and center? Or would you rather the show have ended its run with Season 5 and left the universe alone? Tell us in the comments — and if you’re not caught up, there’s no better time to start watching before the final season arrives.