The Firm is a legal thriller television series created by Lukas Reiter that began airing in February 2012 on AXN, and is a sequel to the 1991 John Grisham novel of the same name and its 1993 film adaptation. It was also picked up for first run syndication by Global in Canada and NBC in the US before release. The television adaptation is set ten years after the novel and film.

On February 3, 2012, NBC announced that the series would be pulled from its Thursday 10/9c slot immediately, and placed on Saturdays at 9/8c starting on February 18; Global continued to air the series at the former time slot until March 3, when the show was moved to Saturdays. AXN began broadcasts in over 125 territories and countries on February 19.

On May 13, 2012, NBC canceled the series after one season.

Plot The 2012 television show picks up on the story of Mitchell Y. McDeere and his family ten years after the fictional setting of the 1991 novel and 1993 film. In the original film and book, McDeere helped topple the Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke that protected a Chicago organized crime syndicate, resulting in mob convictions. The television adaptation attempts to remain true to the conspiracy element of its predecessors. Once McDeere is out of witness protection and building a new law firm, Kinross & Clark, a shady law firm, pushes to acquire McDeere's. Although McDeere's law firm is considered scrappy, he has become leery of being watched, which makes focusing on his job difficult. McDeere has a ten-year-old daughter Claire (Natasha Calis) and he begins the remaking of his career in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Mitch's brother and his brother's girlfriend work for his upstart law firm, which works out of a tiny former travel agency office. The first season revolves around a conspiracy and Kinross & Clark's interest in a McDeere client accused of murder. Throughout the season, the deceased mob boss' son contemplates seeking revenge on Mitch who was a cause of his father's prison term.

Cast and characters The following are the regular and recurring cast members in The Firm: Regular Josh Lucas as Mitchell Y. "Mitch" McDeere, a Harvard-educated lawyer Molly Parker as Abigail Sutherland "Abby" McDeere, Mitch McDeere's blue-blood wife and an elementary school teacher Callum Keith Rennie as Raymond "Ray" McDeere, Mitch McDeere's ex-con brother and investigator Juliette Lewis as Tamara Inez "Tammy" Hemphill Ray McDeere's girlfriend and Mitch's secretary Natasha Calis as Claire McDeere, Mitch and Abby McDeere's daughter

Recurring Tricia Helfer as Alex Clark Martin Donovan as Kevin Stack Gianpaolo Venuta as Joey Morolto Jr. Shaun Majumder as Andrew Palmer Paulino Nunes as U.S. Marshal Louis Coleman Edward Glen as Duty Captain

Production

Development The concept of bringing these characters to television had been in the works for a few years with CBS having formerly been the expected network. Reiter conceived the recreation of the series 10 years into the future and proposed it to Grisham. Grisham oversaw the first three or four episode scripts and then became confident with its development.

Sony Pictures Television ordered 22 episodes of the show from Entertainment One Television in late April 2011 for broadcast on their AXN stations in 125 markets outside of Canada and the U.S. Shortly thereafter, NBC and Shaw Media confirmed that they had acquired broadcast rights in the U.S. and Canada respectively. The show's 22 episode order was the largest of any of NBC's newly picked up shows.

The show was filmed in Toronto and was produced by Entertainment One in association with Sony Pictures Television and Paramount Pictures. Filming of Season 1 took place between August 4, 2011 and April 30, 2012. The pilot was directed by David Straiton.

Grisham served as an executive producer of the television series. Lukas Reiter, a former Law & Order producer, wrote the pilot and was the showrunner. Some of the other legal shows he has produced are The Practice and Boston Legal. Other executive producers were Entertainment One's John Morayniss, Michael Rosenberg, Noreen Halpern, and Helen Shaver. The show's writers included Alyson Feltes, Peter Noah, David Feige, William Rothko, Vincent Angell, and Jonathan Shapiro.

On June 8, 2011, it was announced that Josh Lucas had been cast in the lead role of Mitch McDeere. On July 12, Entertainment One announced the casting of Callum Keith Rennie as Ray McDeere and Juliette Lewis as Tammy. The addition of Molly Parker as Abby McDeere was announced on July 29. Natasha Calis was cast as Claire McDeere, Mitch and Abby McDeere's daughter. Parker had previously played Calis' mother in the 2011 Lifetime film, Gone. Then, Tricia Helfer and Shaun Majumder were added in recurring roles as Alex Clarke and Andrew Palmer on August 19 and 22. , the show was under production. Although mostly shot in Toronto, the production has included other host cities such as Washington, D.C. , eight of the 22 episodes had been shot, according to Grisham.

On July 19, 2011, CBS filed a lawsuit against Reiter and Entertainment One "for tortious interference with contract, breach of contract, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing" because after CBS declined to commission a series from his script after paying him for it, Reiter reworked it, and Entertainment One agreed to produce it.

Background Both the novel and the film recount the story of an upstart attorney who unknowingly was hired by an organized crime enterprise's legal team. He became a whistleblower to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and brought down the corrupt Memphis law firm with Chicago mob ties. The TV series begins as the McDeere family emerge from witness protection to encounter old and new challenges. The novel sold seven million copies. The film starring Tom Cruise grossed over $158 million ($ million in dollars) domestically and $111 million internationally ($270 million worldwide in 1993 dollars). It was the largest grossing R-rated movie of 1993 and of any film based on a Grisham novel. The week the film was released, Grisham and Michael Crichton evenly divided the top six paperback spots on The New York Times Best Seller list.

In reporting about the television series, Bill Keveney of USA Today said, "The book ends with him [Mitch McDeere] on the run, his law career apparently over; the movie ends with him and his wife, Abby, on their way back to Boston, hoping for a new start in life and law." Keveney said that the television show more closely resembles the film in this regard. Mike Hale of The New York Times, however, notes that conflict with the mob "...doesn’t jibe with the film, which ended with his having reached a détente with them while avoiding witness protection." He does note that "It takes a couple of jarring, revisionist flashbacks in the first 10 minutes of the premiere to reconcile these details."

The Firm marks the third television adaptation of a John Grisham novel. The Client was a 1995 adaptation of the 1993 novel of the same name that aired 21 episodes on CBS between September 17, 1995, and April 16, 1996, during the 1995–96 United States television season. Grisham was not credited for the development of that adaptation. The Street Lawyer was a 2003 adaptation of the 1998 novel of the same name that never aired on ABC that was developed for the 2003–04 United States television season. The novel Ford County was also in development as an NBC series at one time.

Episodes

Broadcast In May 2011, it was announced that in the United States, The Firm would air during the 2011–12 network television season on Sundays at 10:00 pm. It was intended to premiere as a 2012 mid-season replacement following The Apprentice. However, in November 2011, it was announced that in the United States, The Firm would air on Thursdays 10:00 pm. It premiered as a 2012 midseason replacement following Up All Night, taking over the time slot from Prime Suspect. It premiered with a two-hour special on Sunday January 8, 2012 before debuting in its regular one-hour time slot on January 12. The premiere drew NBC's worst ratings in the key advertising demographic ever for a regular season drama debut. On February 3, 2012, NBC announced that The Firm was being rescheduled to Saturdays at 9/8c, with its original Thursday 10/9c slot being taken by Awake.

In Canada, the show premiered on January 8 and was shown in simulcast with NBC for the first six episodes. With the acquisition of Awake, Shaw has moved The Firm to Saturdays at 10:00 pm on Global, beginning with "Chapter 10" on March 10, 2012. The Firm repeats on Showcase on Friday night, Saturday morning and night, as well as morning and night of the following Tuesday. The series is also shown Sundays on Mystery TV.

With its debut on February 19, The Firm marks the first time that AXN has premiered a show on the same day in all of its markets. The AXN broadcast broadens the shows markets to over 125 territories and countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central Europe, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Russia, and Spain. Worldwide distribution is handled by Entertainment One, who owns the basic and pay television, broadcast television, and digital/DVD rights for the show outside of AXN markets.

On March 17, 2012, the show was pre-empted by the new NBC reality show Fashion Star for one week. On May 4, 2012 NBC announced on the show's Facebook page that they were delaying episode 16 until May 12 due to the holiday Cinco de Mayo. Episode 16 was broadcast in Canada on May 5, resulting in NBC being one week behind the Canadian broadcast.

In May 2012, it was confirmed that NBC would not be continuing with the show beyond the one season.

As of 2021, the series is currently being heavily promoted by Scottish Television (STV) for its STV Player service.

Ratings Season Network Timeslot (ET/PT) # Ep. Premiered Ended TV Season Rank Viewers(in millions) Date PremiereViewers(in millions) Date FinaleViewers(in millions)1 22 1.075 0.2852011–12TBATBA 6.32 1.722011–12#1354.36 2012TBATBA

Reception The series received an approval rating of 39% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on twenty three reviews, its consensus reads, "A typical, old-fashioned legal crime show, The Firm grows tedious from the first episode."