Suits Stars Say Fans Will 'Be Happy' With Harvey And Donna Romance In Season 9

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(Image credit: USA)

Only one season of Suits is left before the final credits roll, and there's no guarantee that any of the regulars will ever reprise their roles despite the existence of a spinoff set in the same universe. The Season 8 finale saw the culmination of one of the longest-running and increasingly dramatic relationships of the series: Harvey and Donna. After more than a decade of back-and-forth in-universe, Harvey dropped by Donna's apartment at the end of the finale, and they were finally on the same romantic page. Yay?

Well, fans of the relationship had reason to celebrate that the days of third-party love interests seemed to be gone for at least a bit, but there's no denying that the course of true love on Suits rarely runs smooth. Would the highs of the happy hookup be ruined by the lows of more drama? While we'll have to wait until Season 9 premieres later this week to find out for sure, actors Gabriel Macht and Sarah Rafferty think fans will be happy. Rafferty, who plays Donna, said this:

The will-they-won't-they is a dynamic in itself, so it was great to play that. But I think knowing that there were 10 [episodes] left, it's much less scary to do it. For me, it's just time to let them be happy and let's just go out on that note.

Many shows shy away from letting will-they-won't-they couples actually embrace the will-they, and it seems couples sometimes only get to be happy when it's a happily-ever-after in a series finale. As Sarah Rafferty pointed out, it's less scary when the end is in sight. Suits won't need to figure out how to handle Harvey and Donna as a couple indefinitely. Just ten episodes. Surely they can still be happy after ten episodes, right?

The romantic twist at the end of Season 8 almost didn't happen, but the showrunner didn't seem to feel any regrets about the decision to give them that happy moment. I think Suits really benefited from ending the season on a hopeful note for two of the characters, especially as it hadn't been long since Mike and Rachel left. Suits has had to shuffle to fill their void; hooking up Harvey and Donna certainly provides some new stories.

Sarah Rafferty's comments indicate that Harvey and Donna will have the chance to end the series happy with each other (which Harvey may really need in Season 9), but what about fans? Gabriel Macht, who plays Harvey, went on in the chat with ET to share some reassuring words:

The fans will be happy. We've all done, as an ensemble, a really good way of wanting the fans to just want a little more because that's what you want. As soon as they get what they want, then they're done. So, for the last season, I think it made sense.

When the show is going to be done anyway, why not finally give the fans what they've wanted all along? Of course, the saga of Donna and Harvey has been drawn out long enough that some original fans ran out of steam to keep rooting for them, but those who stuck around will be rewarded. If it happens, their version of a happily-ever-after undoubtedly looks different than the one Mike and Rachel got when they rode off into the sunset as newlyweds.

Mike and Rachel as a married couple are very unlikely ever to return due to the fact that Meghan Markle joined the British royal family and recently gave birth to a baby boy. Patrick J. Adams will return, however, and he already revealed how Suits says goodbye to Rachel in Season 9.

Find out how Suits handles the new Harvey/Donna status quo in Season 9 with the final season premiere on Wednesday, July 17 at 9 p.m. ET on USA. Stick around USA on July 17 for an extra dose of the Suits world, thanks to the launch of the Gina Torres-led spinoff Pearson. That show isn't likely to unnecessarily feature Suits characters, but then again, Torres herself never intended to return to Suits, and she did.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).