While one chapter of the crime drama universe may be at a close, the world of Michael Connelly’sBoschnovels is continuing withBallard. Introduced in 2017’sThe Late Show, Renée Ballard is an LAPD detective who has been at the forefront of six of Connelly’s novels set in the same literary universe as Harry Bosch andThe Lincoln Lawyer’s Mickey Haller. After nine seasons without her on screen, Ballard was eventually introduced inBosch: Legacyseason 3, which served as a lead-in to her spinoff show on Prime Video.
Developed byFear the Walking Deadalum Michael Alaimo andHawaii Five-0’s Kendall Sherwood,Ballardserves as an adaptationof multiple of Connell’s novels, much like its predecessor show did. The story centers on Maggie Q’s eponymous detective, now tasked with rebuilding the LAPD’s cold case unit, investigating the decades-old disappearance of a local politician’s sister, which puts her and her team on the trail of a seemingly forgotten serial killer. Alongside Q, the ensemble cast includes Courtney Taylor, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles and Amy Hill, among others.
In honor of the show’s premiere,ScreenRantinterviewed Michael Connelly to discussBallard. The author/executive producer opened up about the creative process behind adapting his novels for the screen, including why the show skips ahead four novels in the titular detective’s series, as well as tackling one of the darkest parts of Renée’s backstory, determining how involved Bosch should be, and the potential future of the show.
Connelly Thinks It’s “Really Ingenious” How Ballard Approaches Adapting The Books
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In reflecting on the creation of the show, Connelly recalls feeling “lucky” in putting togetherBallard’s team as he had “amazing people involved on both sides of the camera”, therefore knowing"we could take a lot of these people over" to the spinoffand that there was “a bit of a shorthand” between them and the shows' producers. He also felt that his own knowledge of the TV industry has changed immensely inthe decade sinceBoschpremiered, with the team not only feeling like “a bunch of strangers”, but also waiting “for stuff to fall into place”, an experience that he “could bring going forward” into the follow-up.
I think it was a good transition, an easier transition, and the results of that end up being what you see on the screen.
One of the things that also carried over intoBallardwas how the show’s writing team took to adapting Connelly’s novels, with various elements of the Harry Bosch books serving as inspiration for different seasons of the Titus Welliver-led show rather than solely adapting one novel per season. Connelly explains that when it comes to the creative teams' decisions on which books to adapt, “I never dictate anything to anybody”,feeling the licensing deal Amazon MGM has for his works is a “unique thing"as the studio said, “We’ll take it all, and that way we can have our creators take what they need”.
From there, the author recalls that showrunners Michael Alaimo and Kendall Sherwood knew that “there’s a big transition” in theBallardnovels in which she “goes from being a detective to running cold cases”,but points out that “there are four books before that that have some of her backstory"along with other cases. Explaining that the spinoff show largely pulls its investigative story from 2022’sDesert Starand “wholly made-up” material, he does assure that “they have chosen to pull a lot of her backstory from one book”, and feels that their approach is better suited for television.
“The books are one thing, and they’re pretty much through the eyes of Ballard, but on a TV show, you’ve got to spread the stories out, and you’ve got to follow other characters, which I don’t do in the books,” Connelly explained. “So, that means the creation of more story that’s not drawn from the books. Michael and Kendall and their crew of writers were really, really ingenious in how they did that.”
The Team Knew It Was Important To Tackle The Darkest Part Of Renée’s Backstory
One important aspect of Renée’s backstory thatBallardensures to adapt is that of the incident that led to her original demotion within the LAPD, an event that occurred before the show’s first episode, but isn’t explicitly revealed until a few episodes in. As Connelly explains, he, Sherwood and Alaimo knew “it’s an important part” of translating Renée to the screen,particularly as they honed in on “what makes her tick” and why she continues to do the job in spite of “these obstacles in front of her in this bureaucracy called the LAPD”.
More than just Connelly’s novels, though, the author revealed that the team had the opportunity to bring LAPD Detective Mitzi Roberts, whom Ballard is directly inspired by, on board the show. Having already turned to her “all the time” when writing the books, Connelly shared that “she was in the writers room” and that her involvement"gave us a great advantage in how we approached” the depiction of both the titular detectiveand the various hurdles she encountered behind the scenes while working for the department.
“It’s more like the front-of-mind thing, ‘Let’s try to be as realistic about this world, not just forensics and the steps you take to solve a cold case, but also the bureaucracy and the sociology that’s, in a way, in the LAPD’,” Connelly explained. “‘Let’s get that right, and look right here, this person just spent 30 years in that milieu. Let’s mine her. Let’s ask her questions. Let’s get her to tell us what it’s really like.’ I think the amazing part about this journey was that we had that real-life Renée Ballard that we could go to, and use to capture, hopefully, the verisimilitude of this whole world.”
Ballard Is Meant To Be “Wider” Than Bosch
They Also Went Through “Quite The Balancing Act” Determining How Involved He Should Be
With a new creative duo at the helm and a mostly new set of characters to follow,Ballardoffers a variety of differences fromBosch, ranging from its more vibrant visual palette to its levity and team dynamic. Though Connelly says that “the goal wasn’t to necessarily separate from the originalshow”,the creative team’s intent was to “open it to appeal to more people”. He went on to reflect on the classic Hollywood phrase of “blue sky” being part of their approach, while also pointing out that Renée is the “perfect character” to feature this contrast.
“She finds solace in the ocean,” Connelly denotes. “By contrast, Harry Bosch finds solace by looking out at this dark city with lights and so forth. That alone is a shift towards brightness, so we were aware that we wanted to go to locations, and we also knew in the setup, where she has to put together this ragtag group of misfits, that there would be opportunity for humor, anecdotal humor and personality, which we didn’t have in the Bosch show.”
With it being a follow-up to the now-concluded series, one of the lingering questions aboutBallardis justhow involved Welliver’s Bosch will be, particularly sinceDesert Starhas him as a main supporting character. In reflecting on the “balancing act” between keeping the character around while making sure it didn’t detract from Renée’s story, Connelly recalls that he and the team came to the decision that “we can use him as our ambassador to this new show”,thus electing to “use him sparingly” across season 1 of the spinoff series.
Maybe some fans will want to see him more, but he’s in there enough that you see the connection between Ballard and Bosch is a little bit fraught at times, but in the end, very respectful. They want each other to succeed, they just go about succeeding in different ways. So, that alone is, I think, an interesting relationship to drop into the bigger picture here.
Ballard’s Future Isn’t Confirmed Yet, But The Team “Are Very Confident”
“…The Show Does Have Legs.”
WithBoschandBosch: Legacyhaving a combined run of nine seasons and 10 years between them, along withNetflix’s ongoing success withThe Lincoln Lawyer,Ballardcertainly seems primed to enjoy a lengthy tenure on screen, especially since there are at least five other novels for Alaimo and Sherwood to pull from. When asked about the show’s future,Connelly cautions that “we don’t have a green light yet”, as he and Prime Video are “going to see how the show does” before moving forward with another season.
However, the author/executive producer expressed that everyone involved are “very confident that the show is going to do well”, particularly since they sought to give it a wide appeal. Connelly went on to recall the “pretty rare” moment in which, during a social media interview on the first day of filming the originalBosch, he got to offer Welliver the opportunity to “stick around for five seasons”,with them both being surprised that they “got twice that” in the long run.
“Hopefully we’ll get a second season, and then we’ll be off,” Connelly expressed. “I think the show does have legs. There are a lot of stories we can tell with Renée and with Maggie, so hopefully we get a chance to do that.”
Check out our otherBallardinterview with stars Maggie Q, Courtney Taylor & John Carroll Lynch!
Ballard
Cast
Ballard follows Detective Renée Ballard as she navigates a tangled web of murder and corruption, confronting a ruthless serial killer and uncovering a sinister police conspiracy. Driven by personal demons, she must outsmart both criminals and colleagues to achieve justice for victims and their families. Released in 2025.
