Netflix giveth, but they also taketh away. After missing most of the show’s third season, Neve Campbell will be returning as a series regular for the show’s recently confirmed fourth season. However, it seems another series regular who played a key role in the show’s last two seasons won’t be returning as a series regular for season 4… or possibly at all.
According to a new report from TVLine, actress Yaya DaCosta is not expected to be part of The Lincoln Lawyer season 4; however, it’s important to note that the decision has nothing to do with the return of Campbell and her character. And perhaps we should have seen this coming as her name was conspicuously missing from the initial season 4 cast list released by Netflix when announcing the season.
As TVLine notes, DaCosta’s character Deputy District Attorney Andrea Freeman is not a part of The Law of Innocence, the sixth book in Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer book series, which the next season of the show will be based upon.
The book finds the show’s title character Mickey Haller defending himself after he’s charged with a murder he did not commit. This was a storyline introduced at the end of the season 3 finale when Mickey was pulled over unexpectedly by a police officer who discovered the dead body of one of Mickey’s clients in the trunk of his vehicle.
While Andy might not be a part of the book, it is odd that the show is planning on simply writing the character out of the upcoming season –especially considering they’ve made other changes to the books in adapting them for the series. After facing off against Mickey in the courtroom in season 2 as the Deputy D.A. on the Lisa Trammel case, Andy became a romantic interest for Mickey in season 3 as their relationship evolved.
Although they had cooled things down by the season’s end, there was no indication that Andy would not be a part of season 4. Her final scene of the season coming as she took Mickey’s advice and stood up to the newly appointed District Attorney to get off the bench and back onto the higher profile case she had been pulled from earlier in the season.
Of course, there is always a chance something could change and we could perhaps see Andy pop up in a guest capacity, but at the moment it seems the creative team is not planning on bringing DaCosta back for season 4. Fortunately, the door will remain open for DaCosta to return in the future so here’s hoping this is not a permanent goodbye but a see you again soon as we’d love to see more of Andy in future seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer.