‘Bosch: Legacy’ Season 2 Interview: Michael Connelly

It’s personal for Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) as season 2 of ‘Bosch: Legacy’ kicks off with a two episode premiere this fall on Amazon Freevee. Photo Credit: Tyler Golden.

‘Bosch: Legacy,’ which is a follow up series to Prime Video’s ‘Bosch’ and based on the popular novels by author Michael Connelly (‘The Lincoln Lawyer’), will premiere its second season on Freevee beginning October 20th.

What is the plot of ‘Bosch: Legacy’ Season 2?

Continuing where ‘Bosch’ season 7 left off, ‘Bosch: Legacy’ season 1 saw Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch (Titus Welliver) retiring from the LAPD and working as a private investigator for defense attorney Honey “Money” Chandler (Mimi Rogers). Harry begins investigating businessman Carl Rogers (Michael Rose), who previously hired a hitman to kill Chandler in the final season of ‘Bosch.’ Meanwhile, Bosch’s daughter, Maddie (Madison Lintz), navigates her first days as a patrol officer with the LAPD, working from Hollywood Station, where her father used to be assigned.

The first season of ‘Bosch: Legacy’ ended with Maddie being kidnapped by a serial rapist that she was investigating, and season 2 begins with Bosch and his former partner Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector) leading the manhunt to find Maddie. The rest of the season is based on Connelly’s book, ‘The Crossing,’ and ties up loose ends from both series.

Who is in the cast of ‘Bosch: Legacy’ Season 2?

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with author and executive producer Michael Connelly about season 2 of ‘Bosch: Legacy,’ paying off the season 1 cliffhanger, bringing back actors from the original ‘Bosch’ series, working with Titus Welliver, the late great Lance Reddick, and if a crossover between ‘Bosch: Legacy’ and ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ could ever happen.

Author and ‘Bosch: Legacy’ Season 2 executive producer Michael Connelly.

Moviefone: To begin with, season 2 of ‘Bosch: Legacy’ begins with the search for Maddie Bosch. Can you talk about where the characters are emotionally when the new season begins, and choosing to adapt your book ‘The Crossing’ for the second part of this season?

Michael Connelly: Well, we ended season one with a pretty big cliffhanger, probably the biggest in the history of the show, and we have to pay that off, but it’s also a very high stakes emotional thing. Also, we extended the hiatus of the show. We were coming out in the summer, and now we moved it to October, so we also knew people would really be waiting and wondering. So, we decided to go with the search for Maddie Bosch and close that story early in. The first two episodes are almost like a movie. In fact, they’re actually going to play it in some theaters, because it functions as a film, basically, when the first two episodes are cut together. They do plant the seeds of ‘The Crossing’ as well, so we went into this with two ideas. One is, let’s come to a conclusion on the Maddie cliffhanger, because we just didn’t think it would be fair. You got to be fair to the viewers and readers of books and so forth. So, we didn’t want to string that out for 10 episodes, so we take care of that, and then set up ‘The Crossing.’ Why did we do ‘The Crossing?’ Because the new show, ‘Legacy,’ is a three lead show, and we can’t have three storylines going off in different directions. They have to come together, they got to entwine around each other, so we’re looking for story that will bring them all together. ‘The Crossing’ seemed perfect, because it’s about Harry Bosch working for Money Chandler. She’s not in the book ‘The Crossing,’ Mickey Haller (from ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’) is, but we realized how we could replace him with her in our storytelling. So, right there, we have connections. It’s not an easy connection, Harry Bosch was a homicide cop, worked for the other side of the aisle for all those decades, and so he’s a reluctant guy to do it. But we would tap into his innate sense of fairness, and that would be if somebody is innocent, if someone is wrongly accused, then there’s somebody out there who’s gotten away with this. That’s what motivates him and connects him to the case and allows us to go from there. Then that’s intertwining of two characters, Money Chandler and Harry Bosch. But Harry’s daughter is a cop, and of course she’s going to run across aspects of this case and then it all churns together into a pretty big set piece. Maddie Bosch is intrinsic to this story as well by the time we reach the end.

First look at Jerry Edgar’s (Jamie Hector) epic return to ‘Bosch: Legacy’ for season 2. Photo Credit: Greg Gayne.

MF: Can you talk about “putting the band back together” by bringing back original ‘Bosch’ actors Jamie Hector, Gregory Scott Cummins, Troy Evans, and others for this new season of ‘Bosch: Legacy’?

MC: Yeah, it’s fun. You said “bring the band back together,” that’s right. We had a very lucky run, seven years, of the original show, and so we became a family. Anytime we can bring one of those characters back, we want to do it. We’re developing other shows, and so we want to keep everyone in this universe active and alive, we don’t want to forget about Jamie Hector as Jerry Edgar, because we might see him again in an expanded role. Then, the books are pretty serious and dark. Early on, I credit Eric Overmyer, the showrunner, he said, “We got to bring some humor to this.” So, he created the characters of Crate and Barrel and we got to keep those guys going. I love every minute they’re on-screen, I love being in the writing room when we talk about the stuff we can do with them and the arguments they can have. That’s all great stuff and we got to keep it going.

Related Article: TV Review: ‘Bosch: Legacy’ Season 2

(L to R) Officer Reina Vasquez (Denise G. Sanchez) and Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) in season 2 of ‘Bosch: Legacy.’ Photo Credit: Warrick Page.

MF: The casting of Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch might be one of the most perfect marriages of actor and character in the history of television. Can you talk about his performance this season and what it’s been like to work with him over the years and watch him bring the character you created to life on screen?

MC: Yeah, he is an amazing. Just take his performance in the first episode of this new season. So, we’re nine seasons in and the guy keeps raising the bar. His performance through it all has been amazing, and he is Harry Bosch! I write the character in books and so forth, but he’s Harry Bosch. I love to give myself credit, because I was the one who suggested him about 12 years ago. He went through all the jumps, hurdles, auditions and all of that, and then he ends up getting the job. So I’m proud of that. But I think way back then, I saw something in him. His ability to project the darkness that’s inside, and that was a key thing, because the books are very internal in terms of his internal thinking, and that goes out the window when you write scripts and make a show. But he’s able to pick up that and present it. That’s the key, I think, to the success of the show, that people who know the books or don’t know the books view him as a very accurate portrayal of a guy who’s seen a lot, carries that PTSD trauma inside, and gives forward his best effort.

Lance Reddick as Irvin Irving on Prime Video’s ‘Bosch.’ Photo: Aaron Epstein. Copyright: Amazon Studios

MF: The first episode of ‘Bosch: Legacy’ season 2 is dedicated to the late great actor Lance Reddick, who played Chief Irving on all seven seasons of the original ‘Bosch’ series. Can you talk about your relationship with him and his legacy in the ‘Bosch’ universe?

MC: It’s actually difficult to talk about it, because as I said before, you become a family. You do 12-hour days and there’s so much downtime as you’re setting things up, and there’s a lot of circle around the campfire, sitting in chairs, and waiting. So, you get to know people way beyond the character they’re playing and what they’re trying to accomplish in life with family, with work and so forth. Lance was a big part of that over the last nine years. I can’t believe how long we’ve been able to do this. But I remember crystal clear being on a location scout, and him calling me and telling me where he was thinking about taking the role, wanting to know how different it would be, and how it had to be different from the character he played in ‘The Wire.’ Somehow I convinced him to give it a shot, and we ended up with seven seasons together. I think it was a different character, and I think he was very fulfilled by the character. The friendship we had … he was just one of the best people I’ve ever known. But also, I’ve really been punched in the heart by his loss.

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller in 'The Lincoln Lawyer.'

MF: Finally, fans of your novels are aware that Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller are half-brothers in your books. Is there any chance that there could ever be a crossover between Netflix’s ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ and Freevee’s ‘Bosch: Legacy,’ or is that simply impossible because of the two different streaming services that are involved?

MC: I don’t know, I think it might take an act of Congress or something, so I just don’t think it could ever happen. I would love it to happen. I think the fan base for that would be huge, but it’s like you got to get Jeff Bezos and Ted Sarandos together in a room and maybe they can negotiate that. But we’ll see. But the replacement for that is Money Chandler, so I’m turning this back into ‘Bosch: Legacy,’ and her performance. What we do with her is just so good and so fulfilling to me, especially on a level because she’s not in the books. To go back to your question, I doubt that will ever happen, but I’m not worried about that, because I have Money Chandler in ‘Bosch: Legacy.’ But I’m in a good position to have a show that’s doing well on both of these services and very thankful for that.