Summary
Bosch: Legacywill come to an abrupt end after season 3. The upcoming season will begin airing in March 2025 onPrime Videochannel, Freevee, and it’ll introduce Maggie Q’s Renee Ballard, before she embarks on her own solo spin-off show. It initially seemed likeBosch: Legacywould run alongside Ballard, with both shows featuring crossovers with each other. However, Amazon has canceled the long-running show, and also ditched plans for a Jerry Edgar spin-off.Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch books provide so much potential forBosch: Legacyto just keep going indefinitely, and there is one particular crime series that proves this is more than possible.
The CBS procedural crime series,NCIS,is still going strong after over 20 years, and the universe is expanding even further with a prequel series.With the greatest respect forNCIS, it’s an episodic crime show, whileBosch: Legacyis serialized and has a library of books to provide potential source material.Harry Boschhas been on the air for over a decade, and he could literally keep going for 10 more years. So, why do shows likeNCISkeep getting renewed, andBosch Legacygets canceled?
NCIS Has Been Running For Over 20 Years And Shows No Sign Of Ending With A Prequel Series Recently Launched Alongside Many Other Spin-Offs
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Servicelaunched on CBS in 2003, and it’s currently in its 22nd season, and still regularly pulls in huge viewing figures,so the logic behind this success was to keep the gravy train running. It also boasts an impressive six spin-off series, with a huge open world of storytelling. The most recent spin-off isNCIS: Origins, which focuses on the early days of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, famously played by Mark Harmon in the original series.
NCIS is very episodic, with each case generally being resolved at the end of each show. This type of storytelling is absolutely fine, and the huge viewing figures suggest they should keep making it, as long as the audience enjoys watching it.The success of this ‘franchise’ makes it more baffling why a high-quality serialized show likeBosch: Legacyisn’t given the opportunity to expandexponentially, just like its network counterparts.
The Save Bosch: Legacy Petition, Explained
Bosch: Legacy Could Easily Run For As Long As NCIS With So Many More Stories Left To Tell
TheNCISbrand is a well-oiled machine that keeps churning out season after season of content. Some episodes are better than others, and many critics might question why it’s kept on going for so long, but its success should not be scoffed at. However,Michael Connelly’s Bosch-verse is a completely different beast, and has produced consistently high quality content for over a decade.Before Amazon canceled it, the consensus among fans was that it could run for just as long as shows likeNCIS, with a much higher quality output. There hasn’t been a decline in the standard of storytelling, and more importantly, the viewing figures have increased. So why not give the Bosch television universe theNCIStreatment, with more series for the parent show (which ironically, is technically a spin-off), and a proper expansion of the universe, withBallard,the Jerry Edgar solo show, and potentially manymore spin-offs with other great characters.
It would be universe building done in a serious and proper way, with hyper-serialized intertwining stories, that would be the MCU equivalent for the television world. Los Angeles is a big city, and this could’ve been explored further with the Bosch-verse, but unfortunately, it’s been cut down in its prime. (No pun intended).The Bosch-verse is an anomaly, in that it hasn’t run out of steam like many other similar shows.Each series expands the universe, and creates more compelling stories, and the fans just want more and more of it. Titus Welliver wants more and more too, and has openly said he would play Harry Bosch for 10 more years. Just look at Mark Harmon’s run onNCIS: He played the character for over 20 years, and eventually decided it was time to retire him, but it was on his terms, and he earned that privilege. In fact, fans haven’t seen the last of Harmon as Gibbs, as he made a cameo appearance inNCIS: Origins, and he also narrates every episode.
Everybody Counts, Or Nobody Counts
Michael Connelly and Titus Welliver have earned the right to choose when Harry Bosch should retire. The fact that Welliver will continue to play Bosch in a recurring role inBallardis proof that the character is far from being done. Surely,Bosch: Legacycould continue while creating a compelling one-two dynamic withBallard, which the fans would dig on so many levels. Otherwise, fans are just left pondering the potential of what a genuinely compelling crime multiverse could have looked like. They were teased with promises of what was to come with the Bosch-verse, only to have the rug pulled from under them. Fast-forward 10 years, and the television landscape will probably be filled with cheap-to-produce crime procedurals as opposed to gritty open universe serialized crime epics.
