Suits Recast Its Biggest Villain But Most Fans Didn't Notice (For A Good Reason)

Television TV Dramas

Throughout its nine-season run on USA Network, “Suits” delivered some of the small screen’s most memorable blue-collar ne’er-do-wells. But few of them were ever quite as purely villainous as Daniel Hardman. The character was portrayed by celebrated character actor David Costabile, who debuted the ousted Pearson-Hardman co-founder during the Season 2 premiere. Over the ensuing seasons, the “Breaking Bad” alum would help make Hardman one of the most formidable foes Harvey Specter and co. ever faced. It turns out, however, that Costabile was not the first actor cast in the role, with Victor Garber playing a version of Hardman (then named Phillip) in the series’ pilot episode.

If you’re wondering why you don’t recall seeing Garber in the pilot, it’s because his scenes were cut due to time restraints. “Suits” mastermind Aaron Korsh confirmed the fact during a 2012 interview with Blast Magazine, telling the publication, “We had some time problems with the pilot.” He elaborated, “Basically, when you get in the edit bay, you have to make some hard choices … And sometimes you just need to cut whole scenes.”

Unfortunately for Garber, time was so precious on the “Suits” pilot Korsh ultimately decided he needed to cut the Hardman character entirely. “So we made the tough decision to cut that character out.”

The Hardman character changed dramatically with the re-cast

Aaron Korsh’s explanation makes it crystal clear to Blast Magazine that cutting the Hardman character was in no way a reflection of Victor Garber’s work in the role, stating, “We thought he [Garber] did an amazing job [and] we thought he actually did work out well.” Korsh was so impressed that he considered bringing Garber back to play Hardman in Season 2, but it didn’t materialize. “By the time that we decided to bring him back, Victor Garber… it just wasn’t going to work out to bring him back in the newly constructed character,” the “Suits” creator said, noting he didn’t think the actor had an interest in playing the character as a villain.

Korsh then notes the renamed Daniel Hardman was a dramatically different character than the one Garber played in the “Suits” pilot. In fact, Garber’s version of the character was not a villain at all. “That Hardman – that version of him – was Jessica’s mentor, and they were friends,” Korsh said, adding, “So we cut it out for time, but then we thought it adds a lot more to the show if Hardman is a bad guy.”

The “Suits” creator was spot-on in his assertion that Hardman is a more interesting character if he’s an antagonist. However, that did mean completely re-envisioning his backstory, not to mention re-casting the role. The series’ creative team clearly had a lot of fun writing the bad-boy version of Hardman, with David Costabile bringing a venomous mix of intellectual pomp and vindictive hubris to the role. Somewhere in the mix, Hardman became arguably the best of the many big bads who tangled with the Pearson-Hardman team over the years.