Andrea Freemann is making a welcome return The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3. After impressing audiences in her court battle against Mickey Haller in Season 2, Yaya DaCosta is back to keep Mickey on his toes. But how has their relationship changed since Mickey finally defeated Andrea at the end of last season? And what can the audience expect this time?

CBR spoke with DaCosta about expanding the character of Andrea beyond her original one-season arc and what that means to her as an actress. She also reflected on her experiences playing April Sexton across six seasons Chicago Med helped her navigate the complex jargon that comes with being a lawyer. Plus, learn how art and life intersected for her in Season 3.

CBR: Andrea Freemann is not in the book The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3 is based on it, but showrunner Ted Humphrey told CBR that they liked her performance so much that they brought the character back. So how can you build on the events of season two to continue her story?

Yaya DaCosta:
We'll build on that this season with the familiarity we've experienced and also the respect we've cultivated in previous fights. Andrea Freeman and Mickey Haller have competed against each other several times, but it has always been very straightforward and very competitive. There was something about this case; The biggest problem for them was probably that Andrea lost, and that had never happened before. And I believe that Andrea felt a new state of humility and respect towards him, which is why she went and gave him the cup.

And that also gave him a little confidence boost. Obviously it's not that he lacks confidence – but he was a little intimidated around her before, and now things are almost a little more even. That bickering, right, that tension has reached a new place of familiarity. Energy can be converted. It can be alchemized into various expressions.
In Season 2, the expression was a battlefield. And in Season 3, it morphs into something else.

Impersonating a lawyer requires a lot of jargon, but you've spent years on it Chicago Med They learned medical terminology before April and Ethan Choi got their happy ending. Did your previous work help you at all in playing Andrea?

Related

'The Lincoln Lawyer' Season 3 Premiere Review: The emotional season that changes everything

Season 3, Episode 1 of The Lincoln Lawyer, “La Culebra,” brings the Netflix show back with a look at Mickey Haller's past — and a punch in the gut.

They're different, medical jargon and legal jargon, but ultimately they use the same part of the brain. And to do the job well, I have to understand what I'm saying. I can't just remember the words; I need to know what they mean. And so I left Chicago Med with a rather unusual wealth of knowledge for someone who hadn't gone to medical school, which stood out. Even when I went to the doctor for something small, I would just automatically use a certain language and they would ask, “Are you a doctor?” (Laughs.) No, I just pretended.

But this is a little different because after getting my bachelor's degree from Brown University, for a second I really thought I was going to go to law school.
One of my best friends, Lauren, who studied law and is a lawyer – when I called her and told her I got this job, she couldn't stop laughing. She says, “Wow, you can really re-enact different lives in film and on television and exercise the parts of yourself that at one point you thought you could explore but then lay dormant.” And so I have a lot of fun with Andrea Freeman.

I live out this fantasy without actually having to do it. And with the technical language it gets a little easier after a while. In my opinion, a lot of this jargon is just intended to protect the distinctiveness of these professions, because for some things there's really no reason why you can't just use plain English… other than to say, “We understand that.” and no one else does. There is this elitism in the vocabulary that I respect. But I have to know what it means, what I say, so I learn a lot.

Is there anything you enjoyed learning or discovering about Andrea as a character after being able to play her beyond her original arc?

I love discovering their humanity. The driving force behind their competitive spirit, their passion and their love for their work.
In Season 3, deep inner, childlike psychological things are going on, and she's confronted with something that shows everyone, including herself and the audience, a different side of her.
We add at least a few more dimensions to her character. And I'm really grateful that the writers gave me something so exciting to tackle this season.

The Lincoln Lawyer also allows you to exercise different acting muscles and different aspects of your talent than audiences have seen in previous projects. How would you describe stepping into this role that gives audiences a fuller picture of what you can do as an actor?

Related

The 10 most versatile actors

These talented actors can step into any role and give the performance of a lifetime.

It's exhilarating. I think that every single role I choose also chooses me, and that's at a time in my life where whatever the secret recipe may be for that particular character, that secret recipe also comes into my real life like fairy dust works. There is a certain level of authority that we as women often do not allow ourselves or are not allowed to fully embody in the world.
I think having to play someone who pushes those boundaries really allowed me to exercise that muscle within myself, and I love it.

There is so much growth, both as an actor and as a person, when you get great work. When you tackle these roles that really reflect humanity. We hold up a mirror to everyone else, but also to ourselves. And that's why I'm really grateful to Andrea for being able to train the part of me that probably didn't have such a big platform before, in family, in life and in relationships with men. It was a very powerful experience.

What would you say are your favorite Andrea scenes? The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 or Season 3?

Season 3 and Season 2 are so different.
Since season two, I feel like both my opening statement and closing statement came together so seamlessly in this process.
And I remember feeling sick during the opening statement. Between takes, I sat in a corner away from everyone else, breathing through a nebulizer and constantly drinking manuka honey tea, and I was having a really hard time. This is my biggest speech of the season this season, it's three pages long, and me and I have to be sick that day and we couldn't reschedule… I'm really, really proud of that. And within the limits of her work as a prosecutor. Prosecutors can't be flashy and use all the tricks Mickey does, right? And how do you be very strict and stay within the confines of their general presentation and also add some spice to it, but still give it some personality?

And then there was so much emotional labor in the third season. Something happens that gives Andrea the opportunity to deal with shame, one of the deepest and most difficult human emotions. And I think she did very well.
I'm really proud of the work – the way the writers wrote it, the way I was able to interpret it and the support I received from the directors on set. Everything is a team effort. But when I look at it, I think, “We did that?”

A peculiarity that is a little irritating is that work and private life sometimes collide in a cute and entertaining way. While I was filming that, I also happened to be laying the groundwork for my very first entrepreneurial venture called Wraps n' Raps. It's a head-wrap line, and there's a moment in the trailer where a woman is standing and candles and a towel are falling. This is Andrea getting into a bathtub. And many women with textured hair cover their hair when they get in the bath. So how perfect is it that Andrea Freemann got to wear one of Yaya DaCosta's wraps on the show? I thought that was something very special.

The third season of The Lincoln Lawyer is now streaming on Netflix.

In this series based on Michael Connelly's bestselling novels, an iconoclastic idealist runs his law practice from the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car.

Release date

May 13, 2022

Creator

David E Kelley

Pour

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Becki Newton, Angus Sampson, Jazz Raycole, Neve Campbell, Krista Warner, Lana Parrilla, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Yaya DaCosta, Marlene Forte, Chris Browning, Matt Angel, Elliott Gould, Katrina Rosita, LisaGay Hamilton, Heather Mazur, Reggie Lee, Shenita Moore, Kim Hawthorne, Mikal Vega, Mike McColl, Saul Huezo, Ryan W. Garcia, La'Charles Trask, Christine Horn, Shwayze, Jeff Francisco, David Clayton Rogers, Fiona Rene, Douglas Bennett, Clint Carmichael , Darien Sills-Evans , Adam J. Harrington

Seasons

3

Expand