‘Lincoln Lawyer’ Author Recalls Matthew McConaughey Passing the Torch to Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Manuel García-Rulfo is Mickey Haller in Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer — and he got a subtle piece of advice from predecessor Matthew McConaughey before taking on the role.

“I remember the first season that you told me a story,” García-Rulfo, 43, recalled during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly and author Michael Connelly . “I always said, ‘I wish I could have come up with it,’ because it was Matthew McConaughey. You told me what he said about [Mickey].”

García-Rulfo said McConaughey’s “beautiful” interpretation of the character has always stuck with him.

“He said, ‘Haller’s a guy who can dance between the raindrops and not get wet,’” Connelly, 68, added.

Connelly’s first Lincoln Lawyer book was published in 2005, and he teased to Us that another is on the way next year. McConaughey, 54, starred in the novel’s 2011 film adaptation while García-Rulfo made his debut on the Netflix series upon its May 2022 premiere.

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“That’s what he is. He has all these obstacles and troubles, and at the same time, he's just dancing through it,” García-Rulfo continued. “For me, that was so vivid [of] an image that it was so helpful to build a character. It’s beautiful.”

If you ask Connelly, however, Haller got “a few marks” while dancing through said raindrops during The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, which premiered on Thursday, October 17. “He doesn't dance so well,” the author quipped.

García-Rulfo began to tease that things might turn around “at the end” of the season, stopping himself before revealing any spoilers. “It’s such a beautiful character,” he told Us . “It's so rich that there are so many ways to explore him.”

The show’s third season is based on Connelly’s novel The Gods of Guilt — which the author called his “favorite” of The Lincoln Lawyer books — and follows Haller as he deals with the aftermath of Gloria Dayton’s ( Fiona Rene ) death.

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“It’s so personal with Mickey Haller, the case and the thing with the murder of Gloria Dayton,” García-Rulfo told Us . “The bar is raised, and the stakes are higher. For me, it just feels heavier.”

Both García-Rulfo and Connelly agreed that there is a lot going on for Haller “emotionally” this time around. Neither wanted to spoil the “shocking” season 3 finale, but Connelly — who recently released the Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch book The Waiting — said it was a moment taken straight from The Gods of Guilt novel.

“We actually have a kind of unusual thing that happens in the last episode. … It kind of breaks barriers a little,” Connelly teased. “I was thinking, like, ‘Oh, they'll never put that in.’ And they put it in. I'm really happy and it's just a cool scene.”

The Lincoln Lawyer season 3 is now streaming via Netflix.