Key Takeaways
- Mitzi Roberts will be involved in writing and advising for the Ballard series, enhancing its authenticity.
- Roberts heavily influenced Renee Ballard’s character, making her an essential part of the team.
- Ballard set to air in late 2025, with a star-studded cast in a 10-episode run, with harry Bosch set to appear in a recurring role.
Bosch: Legacy season 3 will directly lead into the spin-off series featuring Michael Connelly’s cold case investigator, Renee Ballard. Maggie Q will play the relentless crime fighter who is based on real life legendary LAPD detective, Mitzi Roberts, who had previously worked as a technical advisor on the original Bosch series. Roberts also appeared in two episodes of the show, and co-wrote an episode. It has been confirmed that Roberts is on the writing team for Ballard, as well as acting as a technical advisor.
Michael Connelly has struck up a productive working relationship with Mitzi Roberts over the years, with the former detective offering valuable insight into the inner workings of law enforcement. This led to Bosch becoming one of the most accurate portrayals of police work on television. Roberts’ increased involvement in the Ballard spin-off is a smart move, and will only benefit the show in the long run.
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Mitzi Roberts Will Be A Writer And Technical Advisor On Ballard And This Is A Positive Thing For The Authenticity Of The Show
Michael Connelly started out as a crime reporter, and he would often speak to real life detectives to gain extra insight into cases. When he became a full-time fiction writer, he leaned on these same contacts to ensure his portrayal of Harry Bosch and other detectives was accurate. One of those detectives was Mitzi Roberts, who ended up becoming the inspiration for Renee Ballard, who first appeared in Connelly’s book series in 2017’s The Late Show. Connelly elaborated on how his working relationship with Roberts blossomed in a recent interview with CBS Saturday Morning:
She was always very helpful, and she agreed to read my manuscripts, and she has a very literary sense, so she would come back and say ‘I wouldn’t say it this way. This is what i would say in this position as a detective. She rose to the very top of my go-to people and this went on for years. She was helping me with Harry Bosch, and one day it occurred to me, I should ask her how she made her ascension through the department as a woman, because she had a much steeper hill to climb. That’s when she told me she volunteered for the detective job nobody wanted. Working the midnight shift in Hollywood. And the lightbulb goes off, and I say tell me more, and from that and other conversations came Renee Ballard.
Renee Ballard is heavily based on Mitzi Roberts, so it makes perfect sense to have the newly retired detective on the Ballard writing team. Her law enforcement background will bring authenticity to the character and the cold cases Ballard investigates throughout the series. Connelly revealed a bit more information about the extent of Roberts’ involvement in the Bosch: Legacy spin-off during a book event to promote his new joint Bosch/Ballard book, The Waiting:
She actually retired to work on the new Renee Ballard TV show, which I think is really cool. She’s going to make the show really feel real and accurate, so it’s an amazing thing.
Mitzi Roberts Key Facts
- Mitzi Roberts co-wrote the penultimate episode of the seventh and final season of the original Bosch series.
- The episode was called ‘Walkaround’ and it originally aired on June 25, 2021.
- She was responsible for solving multiple murder cases in a glittering 35-year law enforcement career.
Ballard Will Probably Air In Late 2025 Following The End Of Bosch: Legacy’s Final Season
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Ballard Season 1 |
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Starring |
Maggie Q, Courtney Taylor, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles, Amy Hill, Ricardo Chavira, Noah Bean, Alain Uy, Hector Hugo and Titus Welliver |
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Based on the books by |
Michael Connelly |
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Directed by |
Jet Wilkinson |
Ballard is due to complete production on its debut season this week, with fans excited to see what Maggie Q’s relentless detective will get up to in the initial 10 episode run.Harry Bosch will appear in three episodes of Ballard, and the series is based on Michael Connelly’s 2022 book, Desert Star. Renee Ballard will turn up sooner than expected in the finale of Bosch: Legacy season 3, and this will act as a backdoor pilot to the Ballard series. Sadly, Bosch: Legacy has been canceled, but Michael Connelly has promised surprise guest stars in the upcoming spin-off show to soften the blow.
Fans of the show are fighting for the future of Michael Connelly’s crime universe, and they have launched a petition to Save Bosch: Legacy, which has garnered over 10,000 signatures already. The petition also benefits the future of Ballard, as Amazon could quite feasibly cancel the series even if it is a ratings and creative success, based on their overall treatment of the Bosch-verse recently.
Sign The Petition To Save Bosch: Legacy HERE
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