Will Alicia win the State’s Attorney race?
Hypable got the chance to attend Paleyfest this weekend and interview The Good Wife’s creators and stars on the red carpet before the panel. These are some of the highlights we learned:
Cary’s relationships with his partners are evolving.
On the red carpet, we asked Matt Czuchry about Cary’s relationships with each of the three women on the show, Alicia, Kalinda, and Diane. As an individual, Cary has always been a character who’s been shown to admire and respect strong women, and in particular the three leading ladies. Matt Czuchry talked about how Cary’s relationship with each woman is very different:
“One of the best parts of the show is that the characters grow and change, so none of those relationships have stayed the same. Diane and Cary have had a tumultuous relationship in that Cary left the firm in season 5, but now at the beginning of season 6, we saw that Cary was in jeopardy, and Diane was fighting for Cary. Now (with Alicia running for State’s Attorney) Cary and Diane are closer than they’ve ever been. Meanwhile, Alicia and Cary of course started their own firm together at the beginning of season 5, and now they’re at odds a little bit because she’s gone off to run for the State’s Attorney office, so he feels a little like she’s abandoned the firm. The writers have done an amazing job over the course of a 100-plus episodes to have the relationships grow and change in organic ways, and I think that’s why the audience has been enjoying the show still after six seasons.”
Christine Baranski also had her two cents to throw in on the evolving Cary and Diane relationship:
“Isn’t amazing what they’ve been through? I mean, Cary at the end of last season/the beginning of this season didn’t want her on board, and he didn’t want to go back to the old building. It’s just the genius of the Kings that they can take something within 11 episodes and flip it 180. Diane literally kept him from going to prison, and now they run the firm together because Alicia’s off running for office.”
There’s hope for the shippers! Sort of…
Speaking of relationships, we couldn’t help asking about our favorite The Good Wife ship Cary/Kalinda. Even though he’s been through so much this season with the trial, and Archie Panjabi is set to leave at the end of the season, does Cary still have room in his heart for Kalinda?
Matt Czuchry assured us that yes, Cary always has room in his heart for Kalinda, as the foundation of their relationship is built on respect.
“Cary and Kalinda have really ebbed and flowed over the course of six seasons, and what I liked about that relationship recently is that when Cary was in trouble, Kalinda was there to fight for him, just like Cary has done for her in the past.”
So then what does the departure of Archie Panjabi mean for the show? Matt Czuchry admits that it’s a hole that can’t be filled. Archie won an Emmy for her role on the show, and Kalinda as a character is unique on television; she has become iconic in the public lexicon. We shouldn’t be too worried about The Good Wife post-Kalinda, though, because it is a show that adapts well to change. So, just like when Josh Charles left, it created a ripple for all of the characters, and the same thing will happen when Archie Panjabi leaves. Kalinda’s absence will force all of the other characters to grow and change without her.
The fierce and fabulous Christine Baranski wants women to change the world.
In one of the sweetest moments on the red carpet, Diane Baranski talked to us about how special Diane as a character has been to her:
“She’s been so special. I’ve learned, dare I say, to be a better person: more reasonable, more intellectually curious. I admire her. I think she’s just such an estimable human being. I love the way she handles conflict. I love the way she goes up against the guys. I love the fact that she’s a passionate liberal and a feminist because, you know, I am too! But she’s, like, really, really good. I like that she inspires me. I think she could run the world if she had to. We need those women in the world right now, and I think Diane inspires women. At the Emmy awards a few years ago a law professor came up to me and said, ‘My female students are very inspired by your character,’ and I thought, ‘Well, that’s better than an Emmy!’
Don’t worry, Robyn and Clarke Hayden are still around!
Robyn and Clarke have been pretty important factors in the establishment of Florrick, Agos, and Associates, so it’s been a real bummer to have them be so absent this season now that things are kicking off with Diane in the mix. When we interviewed the showrunners, Robert and Michelle King, they assured us that the absence of the characters lately is not for lack of love, but purely for practical reasons: Jess Weixler, who plays Robyn, is auditioning for roles in Los Angeles now, while The Good Wife films in New York, and meanwhile, Nathan Lane keeps getting offered roles on Broadway.
The Kings insist that Robyn and Clarke are still functioning in the background of the law firm’s offices though, so even though the audience doesn’t get to see them, they’re still working. They don’t plan on getting rid of the characters any time soon, and as soon as the actors become available again, they would love to have them back!
Alicia will win the State’s Attorney race! Maybe?
When asked about the wealth of talented and iconic guest stars The Good Wife is always blessed with, Julianna Margulies went on to talk about how grateful she was for all of the talented actors she got to work with this season. Steven Pasquale is great as Johnny Elfman, and Sarah Steele, who plays Eli’s daughter and Alicia’s body woman, is incredible (can we begin to hope that Marissa Gold will be sticking around for a while then?). Julianna then brought up David Hyde Pierce, and how starstruck she was when she first got to work with him because he’s such an unbelievably good actor. She felt that the show was so incredibly lucky to have him on for his six-episode stint.
Did you hear that, The Good Wife fans? David Hyde Pierce has a SIX-EPISODE arc. Which if you really want to read into that, most likely means that Alicia will win the State’s Attorney race. Of course, this is all complete conjecture, but you should know that after Julianna dropped the six-episode bomb, the Kings got a very “deer caught in the headlights” look…