Michael Connelly: Harry Bosch emotionally at sea after Maddie's 'Legacy' abduction

NEW YORK, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Bosch: Legacy producer Michael Connelly says the franchise's titular retired Los Angeles Police Department detective is in uncharted territory emotionally and professionally when Season 2 premieres Friday on Amazon Freevee.

The private eye played by Titus Welliver is determined to rescue his daughter, rookie cop Maddie (Madison Lintz), who was kidnapped from her apartment in the show's Season 1 finale, which aired in May 2022.

Assisting Harry Bosch is his longtime friend and Maddie's mentor, defense attorney Honey Chandler (Mimi Rogers).

"For decades, he was the power and might of the state. He carried a badge and a gun, all that stuff," Connelly -- the best-selling author who created Bosch and has written about him in two dozen adventures over the past three decades -- told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"He's a little at sea now. He has none of that protection, none of that status. It's been fun watching him adjust," he said.

"We had an amazing and harrowing and emotional cliffhanger, which we pay off pretty quickly, and in that payoff, it is about Maddie. But the performance of Titus, what happens with Harry, the emotional stuff is something we haven't seen before."

Season 2 sticks fairly closely to Connelly's 2015 novel, The Crossing, which also features the character of Harry's half-brother, Mickey Haller, who also has his own book and TV series, The Lincoln Lawyer, with the newest coming out in November.

Since Netflix owns the rights to the Mickey character, he can't appear in Bosch: Legacy, so that show uses Honey as his stand-in.

"We knew Bosch: Legacy is a triangle, a three-lead show and they can't be going off in three different directions. We have to weave their stories together in realistic ways," Connelly said.

"The Crossing seemed perfect to us because it's a Bosch book, but it has Mickey Haller in it, who we don't have, so who's his replacement? Honey 'Money' Chandler.

"We had that in our pockets, and it seemed like a perfect match to move forward with. It's been a real joy to explore that character with Mimi Rogers."

Connelly said watching his creations come to life on screen -- first in the Prime Video show Bosch, which ran for seven seasons, and then in the spinoff Legacy -- has been both surreal and fulfilling.

Honey, for instance, only appeared in one book about 25 years ago and was killed off, but has been given rich storylines and nuanced character development in the TV shows.

"Then, of course, Titus is Harry Bosch. He is the torch-carrier of that character. He's so good in that role," the author added.

"The big surprise is Madison playing Maddie. When we cast her, she had been in one hour of television, a Walking Dead episode. So, it was a bit of a flyer. To choose her and then 10 years later see the kind of performance she can turn in is amazing."

Although Connelly started the franchise, he praised the screenwriters and directors for reimagining it and taking it in a new direction.

"I'm not there all the time. I think there is this misnomer that I am there shepherding and watching over my creations and saying, 'Harry would never say that.' That stuff doesn't happen," he said.

"I'm there at the beginning and at conceptual meetings of what we're going to do and then it's handed off to Tom [Bernardo] and Eric [Overmyer] and the writers in that room. Obviously, I get credit for it, but the credit is all theirs."

Connelly is still focused on writing books and he isn't concerned about the TV series that are based on them impacting the paths down which he wants to take his own original narratives.

"You take inspiration wherever you can get it," Connelly said.

The idea of having Maddie Bosch become a cop and follow in her father's footsteps was first developed for the show.

"She's well ahead of the Maddie Bosch in the books," Connelly said.

"It sounds like an obvious thing, but it just had not occurred to me in the books," he added. "I saw this is really cool and this really works, so I'm going to do this in my books."

His next novel, Resurrection Walk, is set for release Nov. 7, and follows Harry and Mickey working another seemingly impossible case.

"They're riding in the Lincoln all the time together," Connelly said. "That can't be realized on TV, so there is some disappointment in that."

Not that the author's complaining.

"I don't regret that. I am so fortunate. I have two shows. Both shows are good. Both shows are successful," he said. "But there is that kind of unrequited thing that these two characters work so well together in the books."

Welliver also voices the character of Harry in The Lincoln Lawyer audiobooks, even though he can never act opposite Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the Netflix adaptation.

"I was 20 years into Harry Bosch, writing the books, before Titus was cast. So, I had built an imaginary Bosch in my head and he hasn't been able to dislodge that yet," Connelly said.

"He is so much Harry Bosch, but I'm still stuck with the guy I had in my head, but his voice has taken over and voice, especially when it comes to writing a book, is so important.

It might even be more important than the visuals. I hear Titus' voice when I write these books."