Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer set up Season 4 in several ways with the end of its latest batch of episodes.
Season 3 of the hit streaming drama ended, putting its titular car-based attorney in a precarious spot.
This time around, The Lincoln Lawyer saw Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller back, along with the bulk of the remaining cast, as he eyed to redeem one of his former clients, a sex worker named Glory Days, in the wake of her death.
3 Ways The Lincoln Lawyer Set Up Season 4
While no official announcement has been made about the development of The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4, the hit Netflix drama has not stopped setting up potential story beats that would likely be the focus of any follow-up.
Thus far, the series has resembled Michael Connelly's line of mystery books of the same name, and a fourth season is unlikely.
Some have speculated, based on where the show is at in the story of the books, that a potential Season 4 of The Lincoln Lawyer would tackle the events of Connelly's The Law of Innocence (the fifth novel in the Lincoln Lawyer book series).
Sam Scales' Death
The big plot twist that brought Lincoln Lawyer Season 3 to an end was that Sam Scales was found dead in the back of Mickey Haller's trunk. It turns out that Haller had no clue the dead man was bleeding out in his car; a check during a routine stop by police revealed the hidden body.
Scales (played by Christopher Thornton) had appeared in several series episodes before this as a fraudster who crossed paths with Haller on several occasions (read more about Sam Scales' death).
Heading into a potential Season 4 of the Netflix series, Scales' murder would likely weigh heavy.
The details of Scales' death are a key point in the book a fourth season would likely be based on. Throughout the story, it is revealed that Scales was a conman whose death was a small part of mobster Louis Opparizio's greater plot.
Opparizio, who has clashed with Haller several times in the past, killed Scales and planted the body in Haller's vehicles to frame the lawyer for murder, something that has (at least coming off of Season 3) worked.
Mickey Gets Arrested
Season 3 ended with the discovery of Sam Scales' dead body in Mickey Haller's trunk during a routine police stop, and the titular Lincoln Lawyer was arrested.
This perfectly sets up the story of The Law of Innocence, as Haller is forced to do something he has never done before: defend himself in a court of law.
The evidence looks quite damning against the titular attorney, but he has never been one to turn down a challenge.
This will not be so easy for him, though. Haller will have to build his argument from within a jail cell, all while some of his political enemies working within the Los Angeles justice system eye capital punishment for the unorthodox defense lawyer.
Part of this incarcerated plot involves Haller constantly being harrassed from within prison, as the powers that be hope never to see him walk free.
That is until he and the team build what they call the perfect case against the dastardly Louis Opparizio and the Los Angeles mob.
[ Get to Know Allyn Moriyon from The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3 ]
Mickey's Team Bands Together
Fans may remember Mickey's close team of confidants he was partying with at the end of Season 3. They will be crucial in saving the Lincoln Lawyer from his iron confines in Season 4.
It is after this night of partying with the team in the Season 3 finale that Haller is pulled over and arrested thanks to the bleeding-out body of Sam Scales in his trunk.
Haller will have to lean on this central team while in prison to help him build a case against Louis Opparizio and prove his innocence.
In the book, the team realizes Haller and Opparizio have a history. Years before the events of the series, Haller worked alongside Opparizio in his criminal enterprises.
However, things ended poorly between the two, as Haller was responsible for a significant financial loss for Opparizio, which lowered the mobster's standing in the criminal organization and eventually led him on a path of revenge.
In Michael Connelly's books, the key to bringing Opparizio down and freeing Haller is a government-subsidized biofuel company in the Port of Los Angeles called BioGreen.
Through the investigative power of Haller's team, it was discovered that the mob is using this company as a front. The U.S. government is paying the company per barrel of product produced, so the mob has been recording its input/output multiple times to illegally boost its profits.
Connecting this company and Haller's knowledge of it to Opparizio ties the mobster to why he would want to have Haller's personal and professional lives ruined.
This will likely be essential to building a case that allows the series' central attorney to walk free in Season 4.
The Lincoln Lawyer is streaming on Netflix.
