Michael Connelly talks about new Amazon streaming series
There’s a new star in the Harry Bosch universe.
Soon to join the three hit streaming series that have been based on author Michael Connelly’s bestselling books about the Los Angeles detective and his circle — “Bosch,” “Bosch: Legacy” and “The Lincoln Lawyer” — is an Amazon Prime Video series based on L.A. Police Department Detective Renée Ballard.
It doesn’t have a title yet, but it does have a star: Maggie Q has been cast to play Ballard.
Q starred in the thriller series “Designated Survivor” and “Nikita” and has appeared in the “Divergent” movies and “Mission: Impossible III.” She was born and raised in Honolulu and began her film career in Hong Kong, where she was a protege of Jackie Chan.
Connelly, who grew up in Florida and has a home in Tampa, introduced the Ballard character in his book “The Late Show” in 2017 and has since written four more novels with her as the protagonist. His upcoming novel (his 39th), “The Waiting,” due in November, is a Ballard book, too.
The Tampa Bay Times recently talked to Connelly via Zoom about Ballard, Maggie Q, “The Waiting,” “Bosch: Legacy,” “The Lincoln Lawyer” and more.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Renée Ballard series has been in the works for a while, and now the main character has been cast. How are you feeling about that?
It takes a while, but the process is good because we really came through with some great people. It worked for “Bosch” with Titus (star Titus Welliver), it worked for “The Lincoln Lawyer,” and now I hope it will work for Ballard, or whatever it ends up being called.
Maggie is a perfect fit to the Ballard in the books. She’s the right age, and like Ballard, Maggie Q grew up in Hawaii, and she’s of a diverse background. I don’t get into too much about Ballard’s background, as you know from all my books, but people have made comments to her in the books. Maggie comes from diverse roots, and it is a perfect fit.
I don’t want it to be a big deal. It’s the same with Mickey Haller. I reached a point where I really wanted my characters to reflect the diversity of L.A. I’m not a woman, I’m not Mexican American, so I don’t want to lean into too much of an experience I haven’t had. But people can take what they want from it. I really liked when “The Lincoln Lawyer” came out (starring Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Haller). There were so many comments about “He’s not Mexican American in the books.” Actually he is, but people see what they want to see, or read what they want to read. I think it will be the same with Ballard, but to a lesser extent. I don’t think people will be surprised when they see Maggie Q with a gun and a badge and the badge ID says Ballard.
Do you expect Maggie Q’s experience in action movies will help her play Ballard, who is a pretty tough character?
I know we’ll call on some of that for sure, but in recent years she’s done more dramatic stuff, too, so we’ll be calling on both.
In the books, Ballard has a lot of interaction with Harry Bosch. How much crossover will there be between “Bosch: Legacy” and the new show, since both are produced by Amazon?
There will be some. The (Ballard) show is actually written, and it will go into production in July. I think Bosch is in three episodes, maybe two. There will probably be some other crossover.
But Ballard is basically a west L.A. show. The Ahmanson Center, where the police cold case archive is, is all the way out by the airport.
We have two shows ostensibly about L.A., but the Bosch shows have focused for 10 years on the east side of the city. There’s a north-south road called La Brea, and we cross it occasionally, but Bosch is east of La Brea, Ballard is west of La Brea. She works with the LAPD, so you’re going to see some of the LAPD people showing up.
In the series publicity, she’s described as the head of the LAPD cold case unit. But in the first four books you wrote about her, she had a different job, working as a detective on the overnight shift. “Desert Star” in 2022 was the first and so far only book with her working cold cases. But you’ve said that “Desert Star” is one of the two books that is the source for the third season of “Bosch: Legacy,” which is now in production. So how does that work?
That book has what I call the double helix structure. It has two cases wrapped around each other. So it’s not going to be the whole season, but one part is going to be the main arc for Ballard, and one is the main arc for “Legacy.”
There’s also things in earlier Ballard books, cases and L.A. politics and stuff, that are in the first season. It’s like Bosch — anything that’s in these books, the scriptwriters can take.
Shifting Ballard to the cold case squad makes it a day shift show. The night shift is not very appealing to people in Hollywood. The days are long, and if you’re shooting 4 to 4, 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., that’s tough.
How is production going on the third seasons of “Bosch: Legacy” and “The Lincoln Lawyer”?
The strikes sort of slowed things down. We started filming both on the same day. This week we’re filming the seventh episodes of both shows. Sometimes we’re filming literally blocks apart.
Do you ever have to remind yourself which set you’re on?
The faces are quite different, so that always reminds me where I’m at.
This is basically the 10th season of Bosch. You kind of drop into not a machine, because that makes it sound like we don’t care, but you get into a rhythm.
I’ve seen four episodes of each show. “The Lincoln Lawyer” especially I think is raising the bar. This season is based on “The Gods of Guilt,” probably my favorite Haller novel. It gets into the ghosts of past mistakes and that kind of thing. I really love that book, and to see it coming to the screen and being filmed is really great.
Any release dates yet?
I think “The Lincoln Lawyer” is Aug. 3, but there’s no official communication from Netflix.
There’s definitely nothing on “Bosch: Legacy” because they’re dealing with the question of when do we drop Bosch, when do we drop Ballard.
Will you be as hands-on with the new show as you were with the others, especially early on?
I’ll be writing. It’s in good hands. We have two showrunners who really get the character.
I’m 67 and I’m slowly moving toward just being a book writer and leaving the shows in the trusted hands of people who have made really good shows.
Even with the Ballard show?
It will be the shiny new toy, so I’ll probably be there.
Every day I get schedules, and I cherry-pick things I want to be at, an important scene or a difficult scene.
Later today I’m going to go to “The Lincoln Lawyer” set because Elliott Gould is going to be there filming a scene as Legal Siegel (Haller’s mentor). He’s so important to me in many ways, so I always show up on set when he’s there.
About that book writing — what can you tell us about “The Waiting”?
I haven’t turned it in yet. Metaphorically at least, since everything’s on a computer, I try to put it in a drawer and then take it out later and do a final read before I turn it in. But I’ll probably do that next week.
Actually, I’m done early. I usually turn it in in May or June. It’s also longer than usual. It’s almost 450 pages.
It’s definitely a Ballard book, but both Harry Bosch and Maddie Bosch are in it, and page count wise Maddie Bosch is in it more than Harry. So you’ll get plenty of Bosch, the question is which Bosch.
You’re going to Australia in May for a couple of book festivals. When you talk to readers in other countries, do they see Bosch and Haller as very American characters, or as universal types?
I think there’s some kind of fascination with American crime and also with the city of L.A., and I benefit from both of those. I worked as a reporter in L.A. and ended up writing about crime there, and it gives me a leg up. It’s not just Australia, but Australia is an English-language country, so they’re more attuned to culture in L.A., and it seems like a lot of what happens in L.A. gets shipped around the world, in terms of cultural change.
It’s always fascinated me, and it’s just anecdotal, but I travel a lot, to a lot of countries, and people talk about how they read my books with the Google maps out and go to the locations. They can even see the locations online. I’ve never done that as a reader; I like to be just immersed in my imagination. I think L.A. has that draw for a lot of people around the world.
