‘The Good Fight’ Season 5 Adds Mandy Patinkin as Series Regular

Mandy Patinkin is joining The Good Fight for Season 5 of the Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) drama! The Homeland star joined the show as a series regular on a one-year deal. Deadline reports that he will play Hal Wackner, “a layman with no legal training who spontaneously decides to open a court in the back of a copy shop. Against all odds, the court catches on, and the team at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart find themselves contending with judgements that mean nothing legally, but are honored by much of the entertained public.”

Patinkin’s return to TV comes after his eight seasons on Showtime’s Homeland, where he played CIA veteran Saul Berenson — and earned four Emmy nominations and one Golden Globe nod in the process. Before that, He won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on CBS’ Chicago Hope in 1995. Patinkin’s future Good Fight co-star Christine Baranski also won her Emmy that same year for her show Cybill.

The Good Fight co-creators Robert and Michelle King told Deadline that they are Patinkin’s “biggest fans” and “couldn’t be more excited” for him to join the cast. “We only worry that he’ll have less time to do his fantastic work on YouTube.” Diehard Patinkin fans will know that he has been spending his time during the pandemic in his upstate New York farmhouse with his wife of 40 years, Kathryn Grody, where the couple creates lighthearted videos on Patinkin’s YouTube channel.

Patinkin’s addition to The Good Fight comes after original cast members Cush Jumbo and Delroy Lindo exited the series at the end of Season 4, which was cut short by the pandemic and ended abruptly after seven episodes instead of the intended 10. Those storylines will reportedly be resolved in Season 5. Patinkin will also be joined by series newcomer Charmaine Bingwa, as well as a main cast that includes Baranski, Sarah Steele, Nyambi Nyambi, Michael Boatman, Zach Grenier, John Larroquette and Audra McDonald.

In Season 4, Reddic, Boseman & Lockhart lost their biggest client, Chumhum, and their founding partner’s name was tarnished — leaving them forced to accept an offer by a large law firm, STR Laurie, to become a small subsidiary. All of their decisions were suddenly second-guessed, leaving for a constant shadow over their shoulders. While investigating the emergence of a mysterious “Memo 618,” Diane Lockhardt (Baranski) and her colleagues found themselves growing increasingly irritated at their newfound situation.