ABC ready to turn The Lincoln Lawyer into a TV series

The Matthew McConaughey legal drama THE LINCOLN LAWYER was a surprise in that it was a Matthew McConaughey legal drama that was actually good. It took critics and audiences by surprised and now ABC is looking to develop THE LINCOLN LAWYER into a hour-long TV series.

McConaughey’s character from the film, Mickey Haller, was the protagonist of five novels from author Michael Connelly and the series would look to some of those stories to develop plotlines for the series. Connelly is co-writing the pilot with John Romano, who wrote the film.

While Lionsgate and the film’s writers are returning, McConaughey most certainly is not, which leads us to an interesting question: who can fill in for the actor? The obvious choice is either Josh Lucas or Patrick Wilson, both who look enough like McConaughey to make it work. Lucas, however, is starring in another legal-film-to-TV-series, the NBC reboot of THE FIRM. And Wilson is starring in the upcoming CBS series “A Gifted Man.” So scratch both those names.

Of course just because ABC is developing a pilot doesn’t mean the show will actually go to air. As we all know from the “Wonder Woman” debacle, not all series based on a popular franchise make it to your TV.