‘LA Law’ Revival Pilot Adds Original Star to ABC Series

Another original L.A. Law star is joining the upcoming sequel series in development at ABC. Corbin Bernsen will once again star as attorney Arnold Becker on the updated take on the classic series. Blair Underwood has already joined as Jonathan Rollins. Marc Guggenheim, whose credits include Law & Order, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow, and Ubah Mohamed are writing the new pilot.

“I’ve often thought about revisiting L.A. Law and Arnie Becker over the years,” Bernsen said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter Monday. “Now seems the perfect moment in time to explore our fast-changing world through Becker’s eyes. Fasten your seatbelts.” In the new show, Becker is a “former lothario who hasn’t changed since the 1980s but the world has. Now in his 60s, he struggles with a rapidly-shifting sexual and political landscape.”

In the new series, Underwood’s Rollins will be a conservative attorney, no longer as idealistic as he was in the original series. He will clash with a younger character, JJ Freeman, who wants to lead political and legal change. Underwood’s character was introduced in L.A. Law‘s second season, and he stayed on the show until its end. Bernsen starred in all eight seasons and the 2002 follow-up movie. Bernsen also recently starred in Psych.

News of the sequel series first surfaced in December 2020, and ABC put in a formal pilot order earlier this month. Although L.A. Law aired on NBC, it was produced by 20th Century Fox Television, now the Disney-owned studio 20th Television. It is described as a “re-envisioning of the Emmy-winning series featuring familiar characters working alongside new ones on the most hot-button issues of the day.” Guggenheim and Mohamed, who also worked on Legends of Tomorrow, are executive producers alongside Underwood and director Anthony Hemingway.

L.A. Law was created by the late Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher. Bochco’s widow, Danya, and son Jesse are executive producers through Steven Bochco Productions. The original series debuted in 1986 and finished in 1994, with the follow-up movie airing in 2002. The series won 15 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series four times.