A spinoff of the original NBC series,Suits LApremiered June 01, 2025. The official synopsis reads: “Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York, has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. His firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career.“Arrow’sStephen Amell stars as Ted withLex Scott Davis, Josh McDermitt, and Bryan Greenberg rounding out the lead cast.
Azita Ghanizadaportrays Ted’s secretary, Roslyn, who has spent years helping him cultivate his firm. Although she never appeared in the originalSuitsseries, Ghanizada has a surprising connection to the cast and crew. The actor is also known for her work on projects such asAlphas, Good Trouble, United States of AI, andComplete Unknown.
After Suits LA Season 1, Episode 6, I Really Hope One Guest Star Returns In A Bigger Role
Suits LA’s first overarching storyline is over, but I hope that the spinoff show’s best guest star so far eventually returns in another arc.
ScreenRantinterviews Ghanizada aboutHarvey Specter’s returnto theSuitsuniverse, the role Roslyn plays at the firm, and an upcomingSuits LAepisode she can’t wait for fans to see.
Ghanizada Shares Her Connection To The Original Suits Show
“[We] shot the pilot the same time as the Suits pilot shot in Toronto, so we were up there together.”
ScreenRant: I’d obviously love to know if you were a fan of the originalSuitsbefore you joined the cast ofLA.
Azita Ghanizada: So interestingly enough, I was on a TV show called Alphas with David Strathairn and Malik Yoba and Mahershala Ali in Toronto. [We] shot the pilot the same time as the Suits pilot shot in Toronto, so we were up there together. So I have known about Suits from the beginning.
I spent some time with the original cast back then, and we were all in Canada. We only lasted two seasons, and they carried on, but I was a late watcher with everybody else. I was an actor strike 2023 resurgence watcher. And so I was somebody that got to watch it like everybody else in one sitting, essentially, and fall in love with it then.
It feels like fate that you ended up onSuits LAif you were shooting next to the original cast.
Azita Ghanizada: All of these little funny things have happened in my life like this. It was a lot of their first shows and Alphas was my kind of first. I’d done other pilots, they’d done other things, but then we were all kind of in there starting these new jobs together and then at events together and celebrating each other and cheering one another on. And then when this came around, I said to my agent, “I belong in this world. I am so legally minded, this feels really right for me.”
And when the audition came through, I got to go in and meet Aaron. I didn’t say anything about being there in the OG time. I feel like it’s almost best just to start with a blank slate. But he kind of remembered me. He was like, “Wait, did I meet you in Toronto?” And I was like, “Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything.” So it’s funny how fate works it’s little magical hands sometimes.
How excited were you when Harvey came back to be in the show?
Azita Ghanizada: Oh my God. He’s so dreamy, isn’t he? The rizz on that man. It’s just so good. He sent a really lovely text to the group when we were shooting the pilot, cheering us on. I can’t think of a classier move than that from somebody that became so iconic as Harvey Specter and did that for 135 episodes the way that he did, nailed it every time, to pass the baton onto us in that way.
It just shows you what kind of a person he is, what kind of an artist he is, and how giving he is. So when he agreed to come on—just the way that the writers have connected the two worlds with so much grace and tact with allowing our show to be its own thing, but find how the two can intersect—it’s really sexy.
You play Ted’s secretary, which is the same role Donna was in. How do you feel Roslyn’s personality differentiates her from the original character?
Azita Ghanizada: When the original show started, they were much younger than where Ted and I are in our iteration of this time in our lives. We’re in a different place. He’s still fighting for name partner. Ted is name partner. I’ve been with him through getting to name partner. We’ve done that. We played that game together for a long time.
And so I think the way that Sarah Rafferty, the original Donna, was, it was so unique to her, and also to their history and relationship. These are two friends that got to work together. I just feel like I’m so different as a person, and they’re writing me just slightly different and allowing my strengths to come through where her strengths came through. And you also get to know your actor, and then you write to those strengths, and then it grows and grows and grows and grows, and then you see that character build.
When you’re going week by week, it’s like you’re just getting pieces. Everything’s kind of piecing together and then that puzzle will be more complete when you hit the end of a first season. But yeah, she was brilliant, and she is brilliant, and ever trying to recreate anything that she did would be an injustice to both her and myself.
Fans Will See More Of Ted And Roslyn’s Suits LA Dynamic
“I think we owe it to the relationship, I think we owe it to the audience, and I think people want to know.”
You touched on this earlier, but your character and Ted obviously have a background. Will we see that dynamic continue to build?
Azita Ghanizada: Yeah, I think we owe it to the relationship, I think we owe it to the audience, and I think people want to know. A lot of that work that you asked about, I think a lot of that happens off screen. In Episode 6, we’re in this criminal trial, we started with such a bang, losing the firm.
Roslyn’s really doubled down on trying to, and not that she’s named one, but being an officer of the company and keeping the company afloat, keeping things going while he is so distracted with so many different layers. And so I think that while that stuff heals and settles, you’ll see how she is a mirror to him for his best self and his worst self. That’s really what will happen between the two of them in coming episodes.
Is there anything that you want to know about Roslyn outside of her work life?
Azita Ghanizada: I mean, I’m fun, so I’m a good time. So let’s just hope that Roslyn’s a good time [laughs]. What’s so great with our writers is they’re really getting to know us personally. And I think they know that I have a history within the industry in and of itself. I’ve been on a lot of these kinds of shows at the time that were about Hollywood, and I’ve existed in this space and worked with incredible actors.
We’ve got nine characters, we’ve got our main four, and then we’ve got our five that are also really rounding out the cast. And so I think as we service these characters and we get to know a little bit more about them and some of this rift of this break of partnership kind of heals then maybe we will let Roslyn get a little more fun and a little sexier and some of her backstory. But we’ll just have to wait and see what’s planned as more episodes come out.
Do you think she has any professional aspirations outside of being a secretary, or is she happy with her career?
Azita Ghanizada: I don’t see her as a legal secretary. I really see her as a partner to the name partner of the firm. I see her as somebody who’s really sharp and almost a magician in what she does. I think it’s side by side. I don’t think it’s a step behind or whatever.
So when she agreed to come onto this thing, whether she’s coming from a different place before him, I think she decided to invest in this person because she saw a real bright future and a legacy and a life that they could build that would be a partnership for them together.
Is there an upcoming episode that you’re particularly excited for fans to see?
Azita Ghanizada: Episode 12. I spit laughing so hard. I was in a coffee shop. I texted Genevieve Sparling, the writer, I said, “I am crying laughing, and I hope nobody is looking at my computer because I can’t tell you anything about it.” When you guys see Episode 12, you will be spit-laughing. It’s wild.
About Suits LA Season 1 On NBC
Created And Executive Produced By Aaron Korsh
Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York, has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. His firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. Ted is surrounded by a stellar group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives. All of this is going on while we slowly unravel the events that years ago led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved.
Suits LAairs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
Suits LA
Suits LA follows Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor who now represents influential clients in Los Angeles. As his law firm faces a critical juncture, Ted must navigate the challenges of a role he once disdained, balancing moral dilemmas with the demands of high-stakes legal battles.
