''Pearson'' is an American

political drama A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events. Dramatists who have written political dramas in ...

television series created by Aaron Korsh and Daniel Arkin that premiered on

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

. It is a spin-off of the show '' Suits'' and stars

Gina Torres Gina Torres (born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Zoe Washburne in the science fiction series ''Firefly'' (2002–2003) and its feature film sequel '' Serenity'' (2005), and as Jessica Pearson in t ...

, who reprises her role of Jessica Pearson. It premiered on July 17, 2019. In October 2019, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

''Pearson'' follows "powerhouse lawyer Jessica Pearson, as she enters the dirty world of Chicago politics."

Cast and characters

Episodes

Backdoor pilot (2018)

''For the backdoor pilot, "No. overall" and "No. in season" refer to the episode's place in the order of episodes of the parent series'' Suits.

Season 1 (2019)

Production

Development

On February 22, 2017, it was announced that

was developing a spin-off series of their show '' Suits'' set to star

as her character Jessica Pearson. The spin-off had been talked about for about a year and a half prior to the announcement. Meetings and negotiations were reportedly in the preliminary stages with no deals with cast and crew members yet in place. The series was expected to be written by ''Suits'' creator and showrunner,

Aaron Korsh Aaron Thomas Korsh (born November 7, 1966) is an American television producer, writer, and former investment banker. Previously he wrote for ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', ''Just Shoot Me!'', '' Love, Inc.'', ''Notes from the Underbelly, The Deep ...

, who was also expected to executive and showrun the potential new series. Production companies involved with the potential series were expected to include

Universal Cable Productions Universal Content Productions (UCP) is an American television production company operating within the Universal Studio Group division of NBCUniversal. History Universal Cable Productions In July 2008, Universal Cable Productions was split off ...

. On March 1, 2017, it was reported that

had signed a deal to produce the series, based on an idea she pitched to Universal Cable Productions, alongside Aaron Korsh. On August 16, 2017, it was announced that the season seven finale of ''Suits'' would serve as a

backdoor pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

to the spin-off series. The episode was expected to be written by Aaron Korsh and Daniel Arkin, and be directed by Anton Cropper. Additionally, it was reported that executive producers for the new series would include Korsh, Arkin, Torres,

Doug Liman Douglas Eric Liman (; born July 24, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing the films '' Swingers'' (1996), '' Go'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (2005), ''Jumper'' (2008), ''Edg ...

, David Bartis, and Gene Klein. On March 8, 2018, it was reported that USA Network had given the production a series order. On May 14, 2018, Gina Torres announced at

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

's annual upfront presentation in New York City that the series would be titled ''Second City''. On January 17, 2019, it was announced that the series had been retitled ''Pearson''. On May 1, 2019, it was reported that the series would premiere on July 17, 2019. On November 1, 2019, the USA Network canceled the series after one season.

Casting

Alongside the report of her hiring as producer, it was confirmed in March 2017 that

would officially star in the potential series. On November 10, 2017, it was announced that

Rebecca Rittenhouse Rebecca Rittenhouse (born November 30, 1988) is an American actress. She has played Cody LeFever in the ABC prime time soap opera ''Blood & Oil'', Dr. Anna Ziev in the Hulu romantic comedy series ''The Mindy Project'', and Maggie in the '' Into ...

and

Morgan Spector Morgan Michael Spector (born October 4, 1980) is an American actor. Spector has appeared in the TV series ''Allegiance'' (2015), '' The Mist'' (2017), ''Homeland'' (2018), and ''Pearson'' (2019), as well as the films '' The Drop'' (2014), ''Chris ...

had joined the main cast of the series. On September 20, 2018, it was reported that Rittenhouse's role had been recast with

Bethany Joy Lenz Bethany Joy Lenz (born April 2, 1981) is an American actress, singer-songwriter and filmmaker. She is known for her portrayal of Haley James Scott on The WB / The CW television drama ''One Tree Hill'' (2003–2012). She also starred as Michell ...

assuming the part. Additionally, it was further announced that

Chantel Riley Chantel Riley is a Jamaican Canadians, Jamaican Canadian actress. Riley made her stage debut in 2011 playing the character of Nala in a German production of ''The Lion King'' in Hamburg. The following year she played the same character on Bro ...

would reprise her guest role from the backdoor pilot in a series regular capacity and that Isabel Arraiza and

Eli Goree Eli Goree (born May 26, 1994) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Quincy in HBO's ''Ballers'', Malik in ''Da Kink in My Hair'' (2007–2009), Wells Jaha in the post-apocalyptic drama show ''The 100'' (2014–2017), Joel Goods ...

had been cast in main roles as well.

Filming

Principal photography for the series commenced on September 20, 2018, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Filming took place in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

during the week of October 15, 2018 with locations including the

Chicago Cultural Center The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building operated by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed preside ...

, Grant Park,

Chicago City Hall Chicago City Hall is a 10-story building that houses the official seat of government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. Adjacent to the Richard J. Daley Center and the James R. Thompson Center, the building that includes Chicago City Hall ho ...

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center nea ...

, and The Loop.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series has an approval rating of 72% with an average rating of 6.92/10, based on 18 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though ''Pearson'' trades the juicy intrigue of ''Suits'' for straightforward political drama, it works thanks to Gina Torres's commanding performance."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 54 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{USANetwork Shows 2010s American drama television series 2010s American legal television series 2010s American political television series 2019 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings American legal drama television series American television spin-offs English-language television shows Suits (American TV series) Television series by Universal Content Productions Television shows set in Chicago USA Network original programming