Actress Sarah Rafferty plays legal secretary Donna Paulsen in Suits on USA Network – Photo: USA Network
Suits actress Sarah Rafferty will soon return to the role of legal secretary Donna Paulsen when the USA Network drama resumes Season 2 on January 17.
When Suits left the USA airwaves for a mid-season break back in August, Sarah Rafferty’s Donna was a key player in the Pearson Hardman fight against founding partner Daniel Hardman. As we learned in Season 2, Hardman set up Donna along with Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) to take the fall in the Coastal Motors case.
When the dust settled on Daniel Hardman’s power play, Donna was let go by Jessica in a desperate attempt to maintain control of the firm before being re-hired to help rid the firm of Hardman forever.
So, when Suits returns in January, can we expect Donna to be more guarded than she was before, not just with Harvey but in general with everything?
“Yes, and probably more protective of the firm, too,” admitted Rafferty to The Deadbolt about Donna in the back six episodes. “I think that’s kind of a natural consequence of what she has been through. So yeah, I think that’s a pretty good guess.”
After being set up by Daniel Hardman in the Coastal Motors case, Donna took her fair share of hits in the first half of the season before being fired and re-hired. As a fan of both Suits and the character of Donna, it was hard to watch. When Jessica’s axe landed on Donna’s desk, figuratively speaking, her exit was even harder to watch knowing that Hardman was up to no good.
Louis Litt (left) cross-examines Donna Paulsen (right) as Daniel Hardman (center) presides over the internal case on Suits – Photo: USA Network
Going forward, in what ways does Sarah Rafferty feel that Donna has been impacted by the Coastal Motors case and her temporary firing from Pearson Hardman?
“I can imagine that Donna’s going to desire to have some one-on-one time with Daniel Hardman as a result of what he did to her,” Rafferty added about what’s to come. “That’s something she going to need to have closure on in some way.”
For anyone wondering whether actor David Costabile will return to the role of Daniel Hardman come January, we now have an answer.
When the season resumes, however, the Suits characters will need to deal with Rick Hoffman’s Louis Litt who sided with Hardman and betrayed his fellow partners.
Although we all have a slight soft spot for Louis given what he’s endured to become a success in the unforgiving eyes of his parents, things likely won’t be pretty when the show comes back to finish its second season.
“You bring up a really good point about Louis,” Rafferty continued to The Deadbolt “I think everyone’s got to be a little guarded about Louis. They feel really betrayed by him. So it’s going to be a process. Their relationship is going to be a process and Louis is going to have to work at that going forward. So that will lead to some interesting situations with Donna and Louis, because Donna did have – I think you witnessed – an affinity for Louis in a unique way. That was really a challenge.”
How do you feel about Suits and the state of Pearson Hardman after the explosive mid-season finale?