Mike Ross star Patrick J. Adams recalled his “terrible” first meeting with on-screen love interest Meghan Markle’s character Rachel Zane in an interview on his podcast Sidebar: A Suits Watch. Co-hosted with Donna, aka Sarah Rafferty, the podcast reflects on their time in the hit legal drama between 2011 and 2019.
While their on-screen chemistry was a hallmark of Suits, Adams says the two had a palpable connection well before they ever set foot together on the series. “Meghan and I had done a pilot before, a terrible, terrible pilot together,” he laughed, referring to the ill-fated project that set up a romantic storyline that never came to be. “We never saw each other again after that, as the pilot failed and was quickly forgotten.
Adams was the first to be cast for Suits and had done chemistry reads with several actresses for the character of Rachel Zane. To his surprise, Markle showed up for the callbacks. “She was right there. And she said, ‘Hi.’ And I went, ‘Oh my god! So good to see you, Breanne’,” Adams recalled.
He also added that from the chemistry read, it was obvious that Markle would get the part. “It was pretty evident she was going to get the part from the moment we did the chemistry read,” he said.
Adams also praised the fact that he already knew Markle because it rid him of the nerves associated with auditions. “It made the chemistry read much easier than it was with anybody else,” he said, praising Markle’s audition performance and subsequent work on the show. “She crushed it, and she’s still killing it in the series.”
