Meghan Markle’s addition to the Suits cast as paralegal Rachel Zane was “clear” to Patrick J. Adams from the moment the co-stars did a chemistry read. In a new episode of his Suits watch podcast, Adams recalled how “easy” it felt to act opposite the now Duchess of Sussex. Plus, how a failed pilot they both auditioned for years earlier helped them nail it.
‘Knowing each other’ helped with Meghan and Adams’ chemistry read for ‘Suits’
Adams, who played lawyer Mike Ross on the hit USA legal drama, reflected on auditioning with Meghan in an episode of “Sidebar: A Suits Watch Podcast.” Speaking to his co-host and fellow Suits alum, Sarah Rafferty, who played Donna Paulsen, Adams remembered arriving for a chemistry read, only to see a familiar face in Meghan.
“So, Meghan and I had done a pilot before—a terrible, terrible pilot together,” Adams said in reference to the 2008 TV show Good Behavior. “There was a setting up of a romantic relationship in the pilot of that particular pilot too. And then we never saw each other again, the pilot failed, it was terrible, and it went away. And so we had never seen each other nor spoken to each other again.”
When he’d been cast as Mike, the sharp legal mind with a photographic memory and no law degree on Suits, he joined in the audition process as producers looked for someone to play Mike’s love interest, Rachel Zane.
“So, when I went in to do the chemistry reads with Rachel, she [Meghan] was right there,” he said. “And she said ‘Hi.’ And I went, ‘Oh my god, so good to see you.’” He went on to explain that recognizing each other “helped.”
“I think just knowing each other and getting to calm down and not have those nerves of just getting to know one another really helped that chemistry read,” he said. “It was just pretty clear that we had an easygoing thing when we went into that room.”
Adams noticed his and Meghan’s ‘easygoing’ chemistry right away
Adams continued, saying he knew Meghan would likely be cast as Rachel very soon after their chemistry read got underway. “It was pretty clear that she was gonna get the part from the minute we did the chemistry read,” he said. “It was just so much easier than it was with anybody else.”
Rafferty went on to note how their chemistry read was “a bear of an audition scene.” It had Adams and Meghan acting out the scene when their Suits characters meet for the first time in the pilot. In it, Rachel gave the law firm newbie a tour of the offices after he remarked that she’s pretty, which didn’t go over well.
“It’s a big one,” Adams said. “And she crushed it and she crushes it in the show.”
Meghan thought she ‘blew’ her ‘Suits’ audition
Meghan Markle on ‘Suits’ | Ian Watson/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
In a blog post on The Tig, which she ended along with her acting career before marrying Prince Harry, Meghan looked back on her Suits audition.
“I blew it. That’s what I said to my agent after my audition for a pilot called A Legal Mind,” she wrote (via Express). “I kept forgetting my lines, I was distracted, and I blew it. Which sucks because I really wanted this one. I really like Rachel. But I blew it. I wanted it, and I lost my shot at it. Or so I thought.”
She went home replaying the audition over and over in her mind. Unbeknownst to her, she’d impressed the show’s producers, who later asked her to test for the role.
“Those suits were about to decide my fate for what would end up being known the world over as Suits,” she continued, noting how she still had the $45 black dress she bought on her way to the audition
“I parked my rattling car and went up the endless floors in the elevator – a time machine, moving me into a new chapter of my life,” Meghan went on. “But I didn’t know it then. All I knew in that moment is that I was nervous, I was hungry. And that a regal looking actress just smiled at me in the waiting room. I had no idea that this late August morning of 2011 would change my life.”
New episodes of Adams and Rafferty’s podcast drop weekly. Suits is streaming on Peacock and Netflix.
