Question: How much of this second half of Season 3 is about Louis Litt dealing with this big secret or trying to find out the secret of the missing file?

Aaron Korsh: I think that Louis Litt finding out there isn't a file in the Harvard file room just kind of kicks off, in a way, the theme of the last six. I feel like the theme of the last six is Harvey and Mike made this decision to kind of bring a fraud into this firm in the pilot. And they're going to deal with the consequences of that decision throughout the last six. And it's going to take a couple of episodes to get through the Louis portion of it, but it's going to have ramifications on every single character in the firm through the last six.

Question: Did you always see Mike's secret being this long-term kind of slow burn, or was it just sort of a premise thing that you realize, "How am I going to make this story work for these seasons?"

Aaron Korsh: That is an excellent question for who knows Mike's secret. Do you know your own secret?

Patrick J. Adams: I know my secret.

Meghan Markle: I know the secret.

Gina Torres: I know.

Gabriel Macht: What secret?

Patrick J. Adams: Louis

Rick Hoffman: I think these next six episodes, in a very unconventional way, does not resolve -- or somewhat there is resolve. In a very smart way, the writers created a much deeper, more dangerous type of a situation so it's not something that keeps getting played over and over again. There's a real serious, serious element of

Gabriel Macht: Threat?

Rick Hoffman: No, of deceit.

Gina Torres: Now that we've basically completed the third season, going into the fourth, you go deeper and deeper and deeper into this world of deceit. Also, the relationships get deeper. So it's not just, "Oh, here's this smart dude that's pretending to be a lawyer." Now, we're invested in all of these people deeply. We share losses with them. We share wins with them. We have a great deal of respect for them. So the stakes continue to get higher.

Patrick J. Adams: And a lot of great stories, I think, are based on this concept of somebody having a dark secret that, when they lie about it, has all the ramifications that you see play out over the course of a whole story. We've seen it with BREAKING BAD or MAD MEN and all these great characters. Really, the focus always being not about the secret itself, but the ramifications of that secret. And I think that's what the show does so beautifully, is sort of we always kind of find a different way. For a while it was just who is going to find out now and how is that going to change them? But I think, with Louis finding out about it, you're going to see a different tack on how we all have to sort of change our orientation around the secret and the things that we need to do in order to push the story forward and sort of save for Mike to save himself. I think people are going to be really happy about it.

Gabriel Macht: Did he find out about it?

Patrick J. Adams: Your show is called SUITS. You're Harvey Specter.

Gabriel Macht: Sorry.

Rick Hoffman: And I know there's a serious suspension of disbelief in that category because no one out there has secrets. [Laughter.]

Question: Aren't you asking the audience to kind of suspend reality when it comes to Mike's secret? I mean, people talk.

Question: Gabriel, in the second episode back, you act with your father. Can you just talk about that scene?

Gabriel Macht: It was an excellent experience for me -- a father-son event experience. He knocked it out of the park. He plays a Harvard ethics professor who is a large threat to outing this character. So I come and try and blackmail him, which is kind of a funny thing where Harvey's trying to blackmail an ethics professor.

Patrick J. Adams: You've never lied to your dad in real life.

Gabriel Macht: I've never lied to my dad in real life. We had a great time. It's kind of hard to say, "You smug son of a bitch" to your father, but...

Aaron Korsh: You had me write in that line. [Laughter]

Gabriel Macht: No, we had a great time. And again, he was excellent.

Question: What's the status of the Scotty character for the rest of Season 3?

Question: In the beginning of this season [in summer 2013], it seemed that a lot of USA shows were going through the same thing: a very tight pair was fighting. Do you get a direction from the network, "Okay. The theme for this summer is division"? Or was it coincidence?

Aaron Korsh: To my knowledge, it would be coincidence. We focus on what we're going to do. The writers get together and kind of decide where all the characters are and how we're going to explore them for the season. I would say it would just be coincidence.

Question: Can you reflect on the tone of this show? It seems like every character only plays offense, and certainly the first half of this season, everybody was angry at everybody else.

Question: Mike's gift of his memory isn't the trick he pulls out to solve every case. How much of that was really just to get the job at the beginning for you, or have you found you haven't needed to go to that well as often?

Aaron Korsh: Well, for me, when I was growing up, less so now from the way I've lived my life, but I had a very good memory. Right? And that was originally the premise of how Mike had the good memory. And it aids a person in certain ways, but it's not like I walk around every day using my good memory to solve anything. So I think it came up in the pilot because he used that to get what he wanted or to get what was an opportunity in front of him in the pilot. And then, as time has gone on, he has it. It comes up when it is needed, but we tried to do it, from my perspective, how it would realistically play out, that it's not just a superpower that you can just whip out all the time, but it exists. And, you know, Patrick and I talked about it a lot over the course of the seasons. I think there was something in it was Episode, maybe, 111 where he's he just remembers the credit card number with Jenny. They are filling out a thing, and it's just a small thing that this guy just has a great memory, and sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's used to solve cases, but it's not always going to be at the forefront of the storytelling.

Question: SUITS was, sort of, the first basic cable show where the word "shit" was said with such freedom.

Question: What kind of response do you get from real-life lawyers? What kind of reaction do they have to the show?

Patrick J. Adams: I recently had the honor of introducing Doug Liman in New York at this legal action center, something that his father, Arthur Liman, started. I was asked to introduce him and read this piece of paper about Doug Liman as he'd come out. And so I prepared. I read through it, and I thought this would be great. I got into this room, and it was a room literally filled with the most powerful attorneys in America. It's kind of an event where they come to do their good work and help out people who have no other help, people who are getting out of prison and can't get jobs or anything. It's the cream of the crop of the legal world, and I immediately felt exactly like Mike Ross would feel in this room -- no idea what I was doing there, scared, shaking with this piece of paper. I don't even play a lawyer on TV. I play a fake lawyer on TV. [Laughter]

Patrick J. Adams (continued): And I get up and sort of shake through this presentation of Doug Liman. And then, afterwards, I got to connect with all of these lawyers, and I thought, I'm going to be laughed out of this room. They are going to be, "What is that guy doing here?" And literally every single one of them loved the show. And they didn't love the show because it's a keen representation of the law, because, you know, it's not LAW & ORDER. We are not doing it every single day to get it perfectly right to how these cases would play out. But they love the fact that it has heart and that it shows that these are not automatons that exist in a world that I think people often assume that they are just head in the book and head in the law and it's black-and-white decisions and people trying to figure out how to screw each other over. It really explores the dynamic of people in an office, and all of those lawyers work in offices sometimes with the same people for 10, 15, 20 years, and they all know each other very well. And they really, really respond to that, and I think they enjoy the fact that we've created a legal drama that isn't focusing just on the law, which, to them, is the dry part. I mean, that's easy for them. They don't actually make a show about law because it would be a show about paperwork, you know. Nobody wants to watch that. So, for the most part, in my experience, people have been really, really warm and receptive and encouraging.

Meghan Markle: See, lawyers just say to me, "I don't think any paralegal could ever afford to dress that way."

Patrick J. Adams: And that you wouldn't be allowed to. Right? That's what they keep saying, because there's a very strict rule in law offices about how things can be.

Aaron Korsh: We take some liberties.

Meghan Markle: We take some with the open toed shoes, but, I mean, I think the point is what paralegal can wear a Tom Ford skirt and these shoes? Like, she comes from money?

Patrick J. Adams: Yeah.

Meghan Markle: No. It's funny.

Gina Torres: I usually get, "Jessica wears color. I'm going to wear color when I run my own firm." That's kind of what I heard when I went to a White House Christmas party last Christmas before last.

Meghan Markle: Fancy.

Gina Torres: Well, I'm not trying to name drop, but...

Gabriel Macht: Obama. [Laughter]

Gina Torres: ...it was a White House Christmas party a year ago. But it was one of those things. "Oh, my God. We are going to the White House." And it was like Comic Con for lawyers, because who turns into a politician? I mean, politicians start off as lawyers, or they start off as businessmen, you know. They are running companies, or they have lots of lawyers in their lives. And I walk into this thing, and, then, the First Lady's chief of staff says, "I love your show. We love your show." And I ask "Is the First Lady -- is Michelle -- watching the show?" [Laughter.]

So, yes, lawyers love the show, and they say, "We would love to work in your firm." I say, "Do you watch the show and see what we do to each other?"

Patrick J. Adams: See what happens at our firm?

Sarah Rafferty: Aaron, we talk about this on Twitter for some of the feedback, but I feel like I've gotten so many tweets about kids saying, "Oh, I'm going to go to law school now. Now, you know, I'm studying. I'm going to get into law school."

Patrick J. Adams: Yeah.

Sarah Rafferty: And I think you've replied.

Aaron Korsh: I say, "It's not a good idea to make your career decision based on a television show, on a fictional representation of lawyers."

Patrick J. Adams: I always say, "Just be a good one, please. Be a good lawyer."

Rick Hoffman: Gina.

Gina Torres: I was just going to say, if we have an impact on how young people are dressing and I don't have to see ass crack in young kids and guys are wearing suits, then I think that we have made an improvement.

Patrick J. Adams: That we've won. We have won.

Sarah Rafferty: Bravo, Gina. That's true.

Rick Hoffman: Speaking of ass crack, Gina.

Gina Torres: Wait a minute.

Rick Hoffman: Gina, like, has these affairs at the White House. Mine come, like....

Gina Torres: Wait a minute.

Rick Hoffman: ...at the mall. For instance this is the most bizarre thing yesterday — I get a lot of these — like, a couple from Italy is like, "Louis, ah, my wife is studying to be a lawyer, litt up." And by the way, was that your real ass when you were in the tub of mud?

Sarah Rafferty: Did you tell them you asked for a body double?

Rick Hoffman: Yeah.

Gina Torres: That Gina was your body double?

Rick Hoffman: Yeah. [Laughter.]

Aaron Korsh: For the record for the record, it was a stunt ass. It was not a real ass.



Question: Rick, you play a character on SUITS who should be unlikable and you played a very unlikable guy on THE STREET, too. Are you surprised when people still come up and say how much they like you?

Rick Hoffman: It's the greatest. It's really the greatest thing in the world and really it's amazing how many people adore this show. I even get a lot of requests for hugs for some reason.

Question: You don't play a huggy guy at all.

Rick Hoffman: He needs a hug.

Gina Torres: Yeah, he does. More than one.

Rick Hoffman: As far as playing different levels of douchebaggery, I think...

Meghan Markle: That's the technical term.

Sarah Rafferty: Creating a hook on it.

Rick Hoffman: ...to have somebody come up to you, in general, I don't know any actor who is disturbed by it. It's just such a nice thing to have happen when you are doing this.

Question: Can the panel explain to us what the Gabriel giggle is?

Patrick J. Adams: Why do we need to explain it? Let's make it happen. [Laughter.]

Rick Hoffman: Who wants to go?

Patrick J. Adams: I think go right to the source.

Meghan Markle: Yeah.

Patrick J. Adams: Gabriel.

Gabriel Macht: This is a tough one. I find just life in general very funny. I feel like we are all a bunch of monkeys, and so that's why I'm laughing at all of us. I don't know. My attention span is very short, and so...

Patrick J. Adams: You are getting a little bit of it. Can you hear it? [Laughter.]

Gabriel Macht: ...I don't know. I just I love to laugh, you know. It gives you some good feelings.

Sarah Rafferty: This is a terrible, terrible story.

Patrick J. Adams: At times, actors are working and...

Meghan Markle: Sometimes we are shooting until, like, 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, and you just get that

Patrick J. Adams: ...or 3:00 in the afternoon.

Meghan Markle: ..and you get a bit of the giggles. And Rachel and Harvey don't have a lot of scenes together, but I always get excited when we do because we are going to laugh.

Gabriel Macht: Yeah.

Gina Torres: You are. You know you are going to laugh.

Patrick J. Adams: You are going to laugh, and you are going to laugh some more.

Gina Torres: Yeah.

Patrick J. Adams: You've seen it on outtakes or something -- actors laugh through something. It's just that Gabriel's tend to be a little longer.

Gabriel Macht: You know, I loved Harvey Korman. Okay? Does anybody know who that is?

Gina Torres: Yes, yes.

Gabriel Macht: Tim Conway. And I thought, do you know what? Why not have some fun doing it. We are talking about such heavy stuff all the time, and the action is driven. It's heavy. It's sensitive stuff. And so when you can just take the air out of it and have a laugh, that's part of it.

Patrick J. Adams: What's unique about the Gabriel giggle is it just comes in a wave, and then there's just no stopping it.

Gina Torres: No.

Patrick J. Adams: It will go, and then it's, like, literally it's, like, wow. It will not go until the wave has passed, and sometimes you just don't know how long that wave is going to be.

Meghan Markle: Just ride the wave.

Gabriel Macht: We had a script supervisor once from somewhere in the Eastern bloc, and I called out a line. It came out like, "Oh, shit." And I was, like, "What?" And I just started crying from laughter for about an hour.

Patrick J. Adams: It was shut down for about an hour.

Rick Hoffman: We were shut down for, like, a real hour.

Gabriel Macht: Yeah.

Gina Torres: It's not an exaggeration.

Question: Creative people tend to be free form and free thinking, and you are playing these very, very precise people who think through everything they ever say and wear and everything else. So to what extent is it really stepping into a totally different world?

Gabriel Macht: Our show is largely improvised. [Laughter]

Patrick J. Adams: I think that's a really good question, something I've never been asked before. It's tough. It was really tough, but I think, over the course of three seasons, it's been really interesting to see things like how your posture changes when you have to be in a suit every single day or the little ways that you tie together, as you said, this really firm, streamlined environment. It's like we get to work, and Gabriel and I are basically in our pajama and sort of bearded as we are right now, and then we sort of go into a room and switch up. And all of a sudden, we walk onto the set, and just being in those clothes alone does something sort of really rigid. And it's like putting on a suit of armor and kind of doing battle, and it's completely different from our normal lives, at times uncomfortable when you are heading into your 15th hour of work. But it's natural at this point. I think it's become totally natural.

Question: Aaron, can you reflect a bit on your experiences with the 10/6 storytelling model, splitting the episodes that way? This season you are doing a big ten episode arc. It ends, and you kind of have an epilogue based on the ramifications of that.