NBC Exec on Suits LA Cancellation: 'Hard Decisions Were Necessary'

*Suits*, the beloved series that first aired on USA back in 2011, has captured fans' hearts for nearly 15 years. Its recent resurgence on Netflix spurred countless binge-watching sessions, but the momentum couldn't carry over to the new spin-off, *Suits LA*. The show was abruptly canceled upon the release of NBC's fall schedule, leaving fans to wonder why. Jeff Bader, the brand's president of program planning strategy, shed light on the decision.

“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 explained to Variety following the public release of the fall schedule.

“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.”

Bader elaborated on the tough choices they had to make: “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.”

He also mentioned that NBCUniversal considers moving canceled shows to Peacock, but *Suits LA* did not receive the green light for such a transfer.

When it comes to shows that made the cut, Bader outlined what made them appealing to the network, particularly with the need to accommodate sports programming like the NBA on Tuesday nights: “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,” Bader shared with 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. It also featured appearances by 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, which aired its final episode on May 11, 2025.