Bosch: Legacy is set to air its final two episodes on April 17, 2025, but despite it being the end of the show, fans shouldn't expect much closure.
However, once Legacy ends, fans will be able to re-enter Bosch's world with Ballard, a new spin-off show expected to debut on Amazon Studios' Prime Video later this year. The series stars Maggie Q as Renée Ballard, who is tasked with running a poorly funded and volunteer unit focused on solving LAPD's cold cases.
The Direct's Russ Milheim sat down with Bosch: Legacy star Titus Welliver, where he talked about his character's evolution, how the show will wrap up, and teased Ballard's debut.
Bosch: Legacy Series Finale Will Lack Closure, But That's Okay
"If People Are Anticipating Some Kind of Closure... That Doesn't Happen."
- The Direct: "You mentioned this last episode is going to be introducing Maggie Q, but it's also going to be the series finale of Bosch: Legacy. So can you just tease how the show will both set up this new spin-off, but then also still serve as a fitting and satisfying conclusion to this particular spin-off?"
Titus Welliver: If people are anticipating some kind of closure, that's not—that doesn't happen. And as far as it's spinning, there's no thread, necessarily, a, you know, distinct thread that says to the audience, okay, and that's Maggie Q, and get ready for Ballard. You meet Ballard. You see she and Bosch work together. You see their certain similarities. And so it sets up her character very well, but it does not have any closure or any sense of goodbye to it.
While normally no closure in a series finale would be a bad thing, with Bosch: Legacy, that world will continue to live on in the upcoming series Ballard, which will also focus on many of the same characters including Bosch hilmself.
- The Direct: I want to ask [more] about [that] third 'Bosch' show that it's on its way, Ballard. What can you what can you tease about it?
Titus Welliver: Well, we introduce Renee Ballard in the 10th and final episode of [Season 3 of Bosch: Legacy]. That's where she and Harry cross paths. And as anyone who reads the books knows that that's a very, very important relationship in the Bosch cannon, he becomes kind of a mentor and has an almost paternal relationship with her.
We don't really have the time to establish that because not enough time passes in one episode, but we see them kind of at a point of impact, and then they are both. They both have the same intent, which is to solve a case. And so they sort of are forced to work together.
And then with 'Ballard,' then you'll be diving into her world, which is the cold case world, and how she operates within a slightly poorly or underfunded unit and a bunch of a host of new characters. So I'm very excited. Maggie Q is exquisite in her interpretation of the character.
I think people are going to be really—because really, the people who read the books in the same way as they read the 'Bosch' books, you know, everybody has an idea about who that character looks like and who they sound like and Maggie, to me, is the is the perfect fit.
- The Direct: "Fans are expecting the show to air this year. Is there any teases you can offer of when exactly, you know, we'll be able to dive back into this world with the spin-off?"
Titus Welliver: No, I don't know. No official air date drop has been announced, but I'm thinking that it's going to certainly come out in 2025, but that's above my pay grade... But I'm very excited for it to come out because I think, you know, despite the fact that it's a different show, obviously, Maggie at the helm as the lead character is going to be something that people are really going to enjoy.
Bosch: Legacy Star Titus Welliver on His Character's Evolution Over the Years
"Bosch Is Not a Character That Necessarily Evolves In the Same Way Other People Do."
- The Direct: "When it comes to Bosch, you have played this character for 11 years now. Looking back at just this last season, how would you say that Bosch journey in these recent episodes are truly a product of the long journey that you have been on with him?"
Titus Welliver: I think over the years—Bosch is not a character that necessarily evolves in the same way as other people do. He tends to evolve more within the circumstances that surround him, and I think part of his evolution and emotional growth comes from his relationship with his daughter, Maddie.
And so, as we've seen her grow into an adult, there's been a bit of role reversal, but she's really, truly the only person that can—she had one point I remember, she had a line where she said, 'You're like a turtle in the shell, and you don't let anybody in, not even me, sometimes,' but we've seen him come out...
But now we find him now in this third and final season of 'Legacy,' probably more inside of his shell than ever, and with these questions that are around him, which are plaguing his daughter and and making really putting a strain on their relationship as she's she's found been given this information from his time in war in Afghanistan. It creates for some really interesting drama.
- The Direct: "We talked about evolution of Bosch himself. For you, what would you say was the most surprising kind of evolution or change that the character has gone through over this journey?"
Titus Welliver: I think he has become more emotionally demonstrative, for lack of a better word, his ability, his empathy has always been, you know, and his moral compass is really at the center of who that character is, which is what makes him such an intriguing and accessible character.
But I think there's a lot of, as he's aged and things we've seen, him express emotion, which was always very concealed to a certain point, which was part of the interesting aspects of acting this character. How do [we] let the audience in just enough so they have a sense of what's going on, without showing them what they should be feeling.
And so I think his outward demonstration of emotion at times, his pain coming more to the surface, and his empathy and how that that manifests into pain, particularly in the season with this family that's disappeared, I think has been the sort of largest kind of step forward for that character over 10 years. 11 years...
- The Direct: "For you personally, is there a habit or a tick from Bosch as a character that has kind of just stuck with you, even off screen, in your own personal life."
Titus Welliver: Well, I think there's something that I do, I Titus do, that ultimately ended up becoming sort of a tick that I became aware of because my family sort of brought it to my attention, which is that when when I get agitated, or if someone's not being truthful with me, I tend to cock my head to the side a bit and perhaps step forward.
And so that kind of bled into the character, and I just kind of left it at first. It made me terribly self conscious, and I said, Oh, well, the idea is to kind of disappear, but you can't, as an actor, you can't help but have certain affect creep in to it. So I suppose that's one of them.
The entire discussion can be viewed below:
Bosch: Legacy is now streaming on Amazon Studios' Prime Video.
