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‘The Good Fight’ Cast: Julianna Margulies Turned Down ‘The Good Wife’ Spinoff Appearance

By Josh Moorcroft
Published on: 23:46 PST, Apr 24, 2017

Julianna Margulies may have received critical acclaim for her role as Alicia Florrick in the CBS legal drama The Good Wife between 2009 and 2016, however, she turned down the opportunity to reprise her character in its subsequent spinoff The Good Fight, which finished airing its first season on CBS All Access earlier this month.

'The Good Wife' stars Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, and Julianna Margullies.
‘The Good Wife’ stars Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, and Julianna Margullies. [Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

The Good Fight, which is CBS All Access’ first original scripted series, picks up one year following the events of its predecessor’s finale. Created by Robert King and Michelle King, who were responsible for the original series, The Good Fight follows Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart after she is forced out of Lockhart, Deckler, Gussman, Lee, Lyman, Gilbert-Lurie, Kagan, Tannebaum, & Associates, the firm she founded in the original series.

After a huge financial scam clears out Diane’s savings and destroys the reputation of her god-daughter Maia (Rose Leslie), the pair joins Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) at one of Chicago’s pre-eminent law firms.

According to Digital Spy, when executive producer Michelle King approached The Good Wife’s lead star Julianna Margulies about reprising her role as Alicia Florrick in The Good Fight, Margulies reportedly turned down the opportunity to reunite with her former co-stars, saying it was time for her to pass the torch to the show’s other strong female stars.

“The reason I declined was because I thought it would be a disservice to those women and they will carry that torch,” Margulies said when she appeared at the 8th Series Mania in Paris this week.

'The Good Wife' star Julianna Margulies.
‘The Good Wife’ star Julianna Margulies. [Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

In an interview with Variety, Margulies claimed that she’s very different to her character in The Good Wife.

“I think one of the things Alicia suffered from was repressing everything down. As someone who is passionate and who can emote, I don’t,” she said when speaking about political activism and the need to speak out against President Trump.

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Julianna Margulies was undeniably at the center of The Good Wife’s success, however, the series’ future wasn’t always so certain, according to Margulies. Before she accepted the role of Alicia Florrick in the CBS legal and political drama, Margulies says she wasn’t certain that CBS would even give creators Robert King and Michelle King the go ahead.

“When I saw the pilot I remember thinking it was interesting, and that it wouldn’t get picked up,” she continued.

Margulies was, however, ultimately proven wrong. During its seven-season run, which began in 2009 and ended last year, The Good Wife saw not only a commercial success but also received a good deal of critical acclaim, landing Margulies the Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in both 2011 and 2014, along with a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series in 2010.

CBS will be looking to repeat that success with The Good Fight, which has received largely positive reviews for its first season, which finished airing last week on CBS All Access. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that CBS All Access renewed The Good Fight for a second season not long after the first season premiered last month.

As for Julianna Margulies’ future, the star remained pretty tight-lipped on what’s next for her, saying “I told my family I would take a year off, and that year is up in May.” Since she finished filming for The Good Wife last year, Margulies has been teaching master classes at universities across the country.

The Good Fight, meanwhile, will return to CBS All Access for a second season next year.

[Featured Image by CBS]

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