Suits type TV Show network USA Network

The lawyers of Pearson Specter Litt face their most personal case yet.

When Suits returns Wednesday night it’s all hands on deck to help Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), who was arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud in the midseason finale. Ahead of the winter premiere, EW caught up with Adams to talk about what we can expect from season 5B, including what Mike’s arrest means for the wedding and whether or not we’ll see some familiar faces.

EW also has your exclusive first look at Mike’s mug shot taken the night of his arrest.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Where are we picking up with Mike in the midseason premiere?

PATRICK J. ADAMS: He’s still in cuffs, and we pick up right where we left off. We see the moments after he’s being processed and finally being held accountable for what they did so many years ago.

Where’s his head at through this entire process?

He’s terrified, but he’s also Mike, and he’s trying to put the pieces together as to how he can defend himself. As we’ve learned over the course of being a legal show, being arrested doesn’t mean you are guilty. As a matter of fact, you’re supposed to be presumed innocent. While this is the end of the road in some respects for Mike, it’s also the beginning of a much longer and larger legal process for Mike and Harvey. I think Mike, being who he is, while scared, is holding it together so that he can start planning on how they can deal with the next step and trying to get him out of there.

He turned in his resignation right before he was arrested, and now he’s being put in this position to defend this life he was just ready to give up.

Yeah, without spoiling too much, that letter he wrote is going to become an important part of the case both for his side and for the prosecution. It’s going to come into evidence for sure and is going to be something they’ll have to deal with.

It’s fun for our show [because] we get to really tackle a case that means more to these people personally than really anything we’ve tackled before. Along the way we’ve had things that have meant more than the average case to everybody, but because everyone is complicit in this crime, the entire firm is going to have to rally and try to keep Mike out of prison.

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The first half of the season explored how Pearson Specter Litt was a family of sorts. How will Mike’s arrest challenge the strength of this makeshift family?

It’s going to push them all to the limit. There are some members of this family that are closer than others, so there will be a bunch of different reactions. There are [some] people who might be tempted to fall into the dark side, as it were, and not be as helpful as they can be. Ultimately, it’s going to need everybody on board for them to have any chance of keeping Mike out of prison. So, I think a big part of 5B is seeing the individual struggle for each of them to come to whatever conclusion and to make this right for themselves and figure out whatever they need to do to get onboard with this case, because everybody has to be in or we’re all screwed.

What does the arrest mean for Mike and Rachel’s wedding plans?

It’s definitely going to put a halt to them. But, I think the bigger question too is how they deal with it as a couple and how certain family members deal with it. Obviously, this has been a secret from a lot of people, but number one on that list has been Rachel’s family. So, it’s going to be hard for them to keep this a secret from them. Something I have been thinking since Wendell Pierce came onto the show was just what exactly might happen the day he finds out Mike put his daughter’s life and career at risk by essentially keeping her complicit in this lie. That’s going to be a really exciting thing to deal with.

For Mike and Rachel, it’s just a new challenge to figure out exactly what they do and how they do it. When something terrible happens, you also get to see how great a team two people are, and I think that happens here. But, there’s struggle for sure. At the end of the day, Mike did commit a crime and it is putting Rachel at risk. She is going to have to deal with the consequences of this action, and I think we deal with that head on in a couple of episodes. There’s a lot of friction. It’s not so easy for all of these people just to band together because at the end of the day it is over a lie, something wrong that Mike and Harvey did together. I think we learn most of the time you don’t get out of those things without having to pay the piper.

How does it feel to finally get to this point in the story where Mike is actually being held accountable for what he has done?

It couldn’t be more exciting. It’s like graduating high school or something. I’ve been waiting for a long time for us to sort of take things to the next level and to see what this character does when he’s finally forced to answer for what he’s done. For me inside the show, it’s a dream come true, and I think for fans it’s going to be one of those moments when a show takes it to the next level and goes in a direction it can’t totally come back from. I’m exited that we finally took the plunge.

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What else can you tease about the final six episodes of the season?

As a result of this case, a lot of old cases are going to come back into play. I’ve been told not to say too much, but you can expect to see a lot of the old players come back and, in one way or another, try to affect the fate of this case. From my point of view, the shooting of the last three episodes of this back six were some of the most exciting scripts that we’ve read in a long time. It took us in a lot of directions that we as a cast didn’t even expect. There are surprises aplenty, and I directed episode 14, which ended up being one of the heaviest Mike Ross episodes of the year, which was fun, but [also] a little stressful.

Does the season end in a place that has you excited and pumped for season 6?

Totally. Coming back to 6, we’re in place where I think the sky is the limit and we can really do whatever we want. For those of us who have been on the show this long, I think we’ve been looking for an opportunity to switch it up and see if other things work, different character interactions. I think it’s going to be exactly what the show needs this far in. Fans that have followed us this far are going to really be rewarded.

Suits returns Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network.