The Lincoln Lawyer may be heading into its final season, but Mickey Haller’s world could keep going. Netflix is developing a spinoff led by Cobie Smulders as Emi Finch, the half-sister Mickey only recently learned he had.

Here is the part to keep straight: the project is in development, not officially ordered as a series. Netflix has not announced a release date, episode count, production start, or title.

What has been reported about The Lincoln Lawyer spinoff?

Deadline reported that the potential spinoff is moving through fast-track development at Netflix, with Smulders expected to lead as Emi. Variety separately reported that the project is in the works. Both reports arrived on August 12, just as interest in the character is growing ahead of the main show’s final season.

Development can include scripts, creative planning, casting talks, and decisions about whether a project makes sense for the platform. It does not guarantee that cameras will roll. Netflix could order the series, ask for changes, or decide not to move forward.

Who is Emi Finch?

Smulders first appeared in The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 as a mysterious woman who approaches Mickey at a grocery store. Their meeting takes a dangerous turn when gunfire breaks out, and she then reveals that she is his sister.

Netflix has now named the character Emi Finch and placed her at the center of Season 5. Emi asks Mickey to help free a woman she believes was wrongfully convicted of murder. The case pulls him into a fight involving family secrets, corruption, and a six-year-old conviction.

That gives Emi more than a famous face or a surprise family connection. Her arrival changes Mickey’s understanding of his own past, while the case gives her a direct reason to work inside the legal world that already drives the series.

Why the timing makes sense

Season 5 will be the final season of The Lincoln Lawyer. Netflix says the 10-episode story is inspired by Michael Connelly’s Resurrection Walk, and Smulders is part of the main cast alongside Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Becki Newton, Jazz Raycole, and Angus Sampson.

A spinoff would let Netflix continue the franchise without undoing the decision to end Mickey’s series. Emi is new enough to have room for her own story, but she already has a clear link to Mickey, his family, and the show’s legal cases.

Netflix already has a large mix of crime dramas and adaptations; you can find more of the platform’s current coverage on the Netflix company page.