Summary
Titus Welliver has confirmed thatBosch: Legacyseason 3 will air in 2025, and it’ll be followed by the Renee Ballard spin-off series later in the year.Ballard will initially make an appearance inBosch: Legacyto enlist Harry Bosch’s help with a casewhich will form the basis of the storyline in her series. Titus Welliver has been confirmed to play Bosch in a recurring role alongside Maggie Q’s Ballard in the spin-off.
The Ballard series will be based on Michael Connelly’s book,Desert Star, and it’ll see the character set up a cold case unit in the LAPD. In the book,Ballard offers Bosch the chance to join her team as a volunteer investigator and use law enforcement resources.However, it remains to be seen if he’ll accept her offer in the television universe, as he’s already established as a private investigator inBosch: Legacy.
Renee Ballard Season 1
Starring
Maggie Q, Courtney Taylor, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles, Amy Hill and Titus Welliver
Based on the books by
Created by
Michael Connelly, Trish Hofmann, Michael Alaimo, and Kendall Sherwood
Renee Ballard will show up sooner than expectedin the Bosch-verse, with an appearance in the season finale ofBosch: Legacyseason 3, and it would appear to be a set-up for the storylines ahead in theRenee Ballard Bosch spin-off.Ballard will oversee the Cold Case Unit in the LAPD,and will team up with a retired detective called Thomas Laffont (John Carroll Lynch), who will be on hand to give her advice.
The series will likely deviate somewhat from Michael Connelly’sDesert Starbook that it’s based on, but the main crux of the plot will probably remain the same.Renee Ballard will uncover a conspiracy and seek the help of Harry Bosch in solving it.It involves a violent killer who murders a whole family, and if the series follows the book, the case is considered to be Bosch’s ‘white whale’, which makes his appearance in the spin-off feel totally justified and organic. Bosch and Ballard will join forces to investigate the case, but it remains unclear what capacity Bosch will be working in.
Bosch Doesn’t Need To Join Ballard’s Cold Case Unit In Order To Collaborate With Her
TheDesert Starbook sees Bosch retired from the LAPD, which is similar to his status inBosch: Legacy, and Ballard offers him the chance to join her underfunded cold case unit as a volunteer investigator. However,Bosch is set up as a private investigator inBosch: Legacy, so he doesn’t necessarily need to join the cold case unit in the Ballard spin-off.There is a possibility he can use his own resources to assist with the investigation, and after leaving the LAPD under a cloud at the end of the originalBoschseries, he might be reticent to work with them again, though the chance to use their resources would be tempting.
Another key factor that could determine the details of Bosch’s involvement in Ballard’s cold case unit could depend on whether other characters fromBosch: Legacyare set to appear in the spin-off. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but it’s highly likely Bosch would want to use the services of his colleague,Maurice ‘Mo’ Bassi, to assist with Ballard’s case, with his tech-savvy skills more than making up for a lack of LAPD resources. However,the Ballard series may want to establish itself as its own commodity, and only feature Harry Bosch on the periphery of the story,and not include his cohorts fromBosch: Legacy.
Titus Welliver’s role in the first season of the Ballard series will be a recurring one, so having him join the cold case unit wouldn’t really work moving forward. Welliver’s Bosch appearance is probably set up to help launch the spin-off, before he returns to focus on his own cases in future seasons ofBosch: Legacy.If Bosch did join Ballard’s cold case unit, this particular plot point would have to be undone by the end of the season to explain his potential absence in future seasons of the Ballard spin-off.In addition to this, Bosch probably wouldn’t join the unit as a volunteer as he has his own PI business to maintain.
The most logical explanation forBosch and Ballard’s crossoverin the spin-off series, would see Bosch popping in now and then to offer support to the case, but not physically joining the unit.Also, Bosch didn’t leave the LAPD under the best of circumstances, so his input may not be welcomed by the top brass, and it might have to be kept off the books. Ballard could be extending an olive branch to Bosch as a professional courtesy as the case she is working on is one of his ‘white whales’. According to the books, Bosch and Ballard have a tense relationship, so it’ll be great to see them put their differences aside to solve a big case.
