A Failed Pilot Set Meghan Markle And Patrick J. Adams Up For Success On Suits

A "Suits" comeback wasn't on anyone's 2023 BINGO card, yet it was a huge year for the USA Network lawyer series. When the show dropped on Netflix last June, it became one of the streamers' biggest hits, reportedly accruing 3 billion minutes watched every week for much of the summer. The series' creator, Aaron Korsh, suspected its resurgence had something to do with the show's relatability and "inherent optimism," as he told The Hollywood Reporter in August 2023. But the show's cast could have also had something to do with it: future ex-royal Meghan Markle starred in the legal procedural for its first seven seasons alongside leading men Patrick J. Adams and Gabriel Macht.

When "Suits" started, USA Network seemed to have already established a pretty standard formula for success: cast hot people, write fast-paced scripts, and keep storylines adventurous. It worked for shows like "Burn Notice" and "Psych," and given the longevity of "Suits," it clearly worked for that show, too. Some recent Netflix Originals, like the Noah Centineo-led spy thriller "The Recruit" and the Keri Russell political drama "The Diplomat," have aimed to emulate the breezy success of the type of shows that were once USA's bread and butter, and they've done a fine job. But for original recipe flirty drama, Netflix subscribers have recently tuned into "Suits" — and to Markle and Adams' characters' love story — en masse.

Cable news legend Larry King passed away in 2021, but had he been around for the summer of "Suits," we have a pretty good idea how he'd feel about it. That's because King interviewed Adams and Markle back in 2013 for the series, and at the time, he could not stop commenting on their apparently crackling chemistry and asking if they were dating in real life. "Why is there so much chemistry here?" he asked the pair outright, adding, "I'm sensing something here." The answer, it turns out, is because "Suits" wasn't actually the first time the two actors were paired up on screen.

"We did this pilot called 'Good Behavior' where I played twins, and Meghan was the love interest for one of the twins," Adams told the host. The pilot in question (which does not seem to be available online) was shot back in 2008 and also co-starred Mae Whitman, DJ Qualls, and Catherine O'Hara. Despite that lineup, the comedy show about a crime family trying to walk the straight and narrow was never picked up, but it was enough to break the ice between Adams and Markle by the time "Suits" rolled around a few years later. Adams attributed the pair's dynamic to the fact that, as he put it, "We knew each other early on." At the time, the actor's biggest TV role had been in two episodes of "Friday Night Lights," while Markle had enjoyed a short stint on "90210."

"I think TV sees us a certain way, right?" Markle told King, noting similarities between the two sets of characters the pair played. "We'd done this show for ABC years ago and, very similarly, my character was polished and he played this sort of rough around the edges guy." Adams also noted that the pair had gone through more of the small talk phase in the first series, freeing them up to genuinely become closer during production on "Suits." "I think we were in a situation too when we worked together the first time there was that, like, uncomfortable getting to know each other stuff," he explained, "and then this time going into it we realized we have to get to know each other and become friends very quickly."

Years later, it's clear these comments weren't just PR manufactured: Adams and Markle appear to remain friends, as he and other "Suits" castmates attended her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018. In 2021, Adams also came to Markle's defense when she was facing criticism, posting on Twitter that "from day one [on 'Suits'] she was an enthusiastic, kind, cooperative, giving, joyful and supportive member of our television family." When it comes to the show's recent success on Netflix, the actor seems to attribute it to Meghan's global fame. After the series did huge numbers on Netflix, Good Housekeeping reported that he changed his Instagram bio to "the guy from that show you're watching on that app because that girl married that prince." Succinct!