The eighth season of the American

legal drama Legal drama, also called courtroom drama, is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in wh ...

'' Suits'' was ordered on January 30, 2018, and began airing on

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

in the United States July 18, 2018. The season saw extensive cast changes with the departures of

Patrick J. Adams Patrick Johannes Adams (born August 27, 1981) is a Canadian-American actor. He is known for playing Mike Ross, a college dropout turned unlicensed lawyer, in the USA Network legal drama series '' Suits'' (2011–2019). His performance earned hi ...

(Mike Ross),

Meghan Markle Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle, August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, entrepreneur, and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son ...

(Rachel Zane), and

Gina Torres Gina Torres (born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. Her starring roles include Zoe Washburne in the science fiction series ''Firefly'' (2002–2003) and its feature film sequel '' Serenity'' (2005), and as Jessica Pearson in the legal dr ...

(Jessica Pearson) at the conclusion of the previous season. Previously recurring guest stars

Amanda Schull Amanda Schull (born August 26, 1978) is an American actress and former professional ballet dancer. She is known for her lead role in the 2000 film '' Center Stage'', and for her recurring roles on the American television series '' One Tree Hill' ...

(Katrina Bennett) and

Dulé Hill Karim Dulé Hill (; born May 3, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series ''The West Wing'', for wh ...

(Alex Williams) were promoted to series regulars, while

Katherine Heigl Katherine Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and model. She portrayed Izzie Stevens, Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role that b ...

joined the main cast as senior partner Samantha Wheeler. The second half of the season premiered on January 23, 2019.

Cast

Regular cast

Gabriel Macht Gabriel Swann Macht (born January 22, 1972) is an American actor, widely known for his role as Harvey Specter in the USA Network series ''Suits (American TV series), Suits'' (2011–2019). Early life Macht was born in The Bronx, New York City. ...

Harvey Specter ''Suits (U.S. TV series), Suits'' is an American legal drama, created by Aaron Korsh. It premiered on USA Network in June 2011. The series revolves around Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), a senior partner at a top law firm in Manhattan, and his re ...

Rick Hoffman Rick Hoffman (born June 12, 1970) is an American actor. He is known for playing Jerry Best in the Fox sitcom ''The Bernie Mac Show'' (2002–2005), Chase Chapman in the ABC comedy series ''Samantha Who?'' (2007–2009) and Louis Litt in the USA ...

Louis Litt ''Suits (U.S. TV series), Suits'' is an American legal drama, created by Aaron Korsh. It premiered on USA Network in June 2011. The series revolves around Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), a senior partner at a top law firm in Manhattan, and his re ...

Sarah Rafferty Sarah Rafferty (born December 6, 1972) is an American actress, best known for her role as Donna Roberta Paulsen on the USA Network legal drama '' Suits'' and for her role as Katherine Walter on the American teen drama ''My Life with the Walter Bo ...

Donna Paulsen '' Suits'' is an American legal drama, created by Aaron Korsh. It premiered on USA Network in June 2011. The series revolves around Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), a senior partner at a top law firm in Manhattan, and his recently hired associate ...

as Katrina Bennett *

as Alex Williams *

as Samantha Wheeler

Special Guest Cast

David Costabile David Costabile (; born January 9, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for his television work, having appeared in supporting roles in several television series such as '' Billions'', ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Better Call Saul'', ''Damages ...

as Daniel Hardman

Recurring cast

Wendell Pierce Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1962) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor of stage and screen. He first Breakthrough role, gained recognition portraying ...

as Robert Zane *

Rachael Harris Rachael Harris (born January 12, 1968) is an American actress and comedian. The accolades she has received include nominations for an Independent Spirit Award and a Saturn Award. In film, Harris has had lead roles as Susan Heffley in the ''Dia ...

as Sheila Sazs *

Aloma Wright Aloma Wright (born 10 March 1950) is an American actress. Her television roles include Laverne Roberts on the NBC/ ABC comedy series '' Scrubs'' (2001–2009), Maxine Landis on the NBC daytime drama series ''Days of Our Lives'' (2008– ...

as Gretchen Bodinski * Ray Proscia as Dr. Stan Lipschitz *

Jake Epstein Jacob Lee Epstein (born January 16, 1987) is a Canadian actor and singer. He is known for playing Craig Manning (Degrassi character), Craig Manning, a musician with bipolar disorder, on ''Degrassi: The Next Generation''. He has also had recurrin ...

as Brian Altman

Guest cast

Abigail Spencer Abigail Leigh Spencer (born August 4, 1981) is an American actress. She began her career playing Rebecca Tyree on the ABC daytime television soap opera ''All My Children'' (1999–2001) before going on to star in the Lifetime crime drama serie ...

Dana Scott Dana Stewart Scott (born October 11, 1932) is an American logician who is the emeritus Hillman University Professor of Computer Science, Philosophy, and Mathematical Logic at Carnegie Mellon University; he is now retired and lives in Berkeley, C ...

Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series '' M ...

as Cameron Dennis *

Jeffrey Nordling Jeffrey Richard Nordling (born March 11, 1962) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jake Manning in ''Once and Again'', Larry Moss in '' 24'', Nick Bolen in ''Desperate Housewives'', and Gordon Klein in '' Big Little Lies'', as wel ...

as Eric Kaldor *

Usman Ally Usman Ally (born August 27, 1982) is a Pakistani-American film, stage and television actor. Marking his acting debut in 2008, Ally won an Obie Award in 2015 for his role in ''The Invisible Hand''. He has appeared in several stage productions in ...

as Andrew Malik *

Neal McDonough Neal McDonough (born February 13, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn Compton, Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers'' (2001), Deputy District Attorney ...

as Sean Cahill *

Sasha Roiz Sasha Roiz (; born October 21, 1973) is a Canadian actor known for his portrayals of Sam Adama in the science-fiction TV series '' Caprica'' and Captain Sean Renard in the American fantasy TV series '' Grimm''. Early life Roiz was born in Tel ...

as Thomas Kessler * Ian Reed Kesler as Stu Buzzini

Episodes

Production

Development

On May 25, 2018, Entertainment Weekly released an interview with

in which she described her character Samantha Wheeler as a "fierce and enigmatic lawyer who muscles her way into hecentral law firm, Zane Specter Litt." She also teased an antagonistic relationship between Samantha and the main protagonist Harvey Specter and an "uneasy dynamic" with Donna. The article included several exclusive first-look images from the season premiere and Heigl's character. Series creator Aaron Korsh confirmed that

will not be returning for any guest appearances in the first ten episodes of the season. However, he did state that he and Adams had discussed it and are both open to the possibility somewhere in the future. At the same time, he confirmed that

will not guest star on the eighth season nor will there be crossover episodes in order to establish the world from the Chicago-based spin-off series '' Pearson'' as separate from ''Suits'' itself.

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{Suits 08 2018 American television seasons 2019 American television seasons