Though The Good Wife is far more than a dry courtroom drama, we're here to rank our favorite main characters by their skills as lawyers. Fans of the CBS legal drama The Good Wife know that the real appeal of the show isn't the drama that goes on in the courtroom, but in the bedroom.
Lockhart Gardner: Attorneys at Law. The Good Wife premiered on CBS in 2009 and starred Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry and Archie Panjabi. While the legal and...
The Good Wife has received widespread acclaim from critics. The New York Times says that The Good Wife "stands out among newer fall shows" and that it is "miles ahead of anything else that's on at the moment." In reviewing the first early episodes many critics praised the acting talents of the cast.
The Good Wife. The series was created by Robert and Michelle King and stars Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, Archie Panjabi, and Alan Cumming, and features Chris Noth in a recurring role. The executive producers included the Kings, Ridley and Tony Scott, Charles McDougall, and David W. Zucker.
Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos, a young Harvard-educated lawyer. In the first season, he is a first year associate at Lockhart Gardner with Alicia Florrick.
“I never saw the last episode,” he says. “Of course I read it, but that was an episode where it was all about, for me personally, being with the crew and the cast and saying goodbye. So I had watched all the episodes up until that point for research; that one I wanted to leave as just something special on set.”
After reports of voter fraud surface, Landau reveals to Alicia that he rigged the voting machines in order to preserve the Democratic supermajority in the Illinois state legislature. However, in order to maintain the façade of a fair election, Landau forces Alicia to resign.
In Season 7 episode 18 "Unmanned", after having enough with office politics, Cary quits Lockhart, Agos and Lee.
Archie Panjabi Decided To Leave 'The Good Wife' After Kissing Gillian Anderson. Archie Panjabi decided to leave "The Good Wife" because of a pretty intense kiss. The actor, who plays Kalinda in the acclaimed CBS drama, opened up to Radio Times about her decision to leave the show.
As Blake lays it out, Kalinda changed her name simply because she was bored of her old life. And she did it while she was working at the SA's office under Peter Florrick. (We just KNEW that was going to come back into play!) Peter is the one who helped her change her name.
Kalinda Sharma She helped Alicia settle in at Lockhart/Gardner and they worked together on numerous cases. After avoiding being indicted, an investigator for the State Attorney's office pursued information about Kalinda and discovered that she had in fact slept with Peter before the sex scandal.
And that's not even the worst of it. Despite all those years together, all the scandals he weathered with his wife by his side, Alicia is done with Peter on The Good Wife . The Florrick divorce is on. After seven seasons of standing by her man, Alicia looks like she's ready to have a clean break from Peter.
Now, putting an exclamation point on the run-on sentence, Cary ends the hour asking Alicia (and her new partner Lucca) to merge back into the Lockhart-Agos-Lee mothership (formerly Florrick-Agos, the mutinous offshoot of Lockhart-Gardner, which hired Lockhart and then booted Florrick).
Cary and Kalinda continue to have a flirtatious relationship and they frequently waver between comfortable camaraderie and a will-they-won't-they dynamic. However, in season 5 their relationship progresses as they have a sexual relationship. It ended after Cary's disagreement with Kalinda seeing other people.
Setting out to form their own firm, Alicia and Cary finalize their exit from Lockhart & Gardner. Realizing that delaying would allow them to collect a hefty bonus payment, all the fourth-year associates vote to delay leaving by two more weeks.
Cary is held in jail, with bail set at $1.3 million and Florrick/Agos struggles to come up with the funds, when they are provided by a drug dealer client of Alicia's.
Diane is the heavy hitter that other lawyers call when they're in trouble, even her co-founder and other name partner Will Gardner. She's also one of the most dynamic characters on the show. Her romance with Kurt McVeigh, a conservative Republican, gives The Good Wife room to explore the clash of political views and the nuance of trying to reach understandings between polar viewpoints.
Peter Florrick, portrayed by Chris North ( Law & Order, Sex and the City ), begins the series as Cook County State's Attorney. He resigns in disgrace, gets re-elected, rides the wave of public opinion all the way to the Illinois Governor's mansion, and then ends the series the same way he started by resigning in disgrace all over again. Not surprising from a man who can't keep it in his pants.
But that's what's unique about The Good Wife: it's not a legal drama that's all about the courtroom. Alicia excels outside the courtroom—in depositions and settlements and closed-door meetings—where her ability to empathize with people can really shine.
Lockhart & Gardner merges with Derrick Bond's firm to become Lockhart/Gardner & Bond. Diane decides to move out on her own after discovering that Derrick and Will are planning to oust her. Tensions between Will and Diane come to a head when Will uncovers her plan, although they quickly reconcile, once they become aware that after Diane has been pushed out, Bond will isolate Will, and go through the same procedure with him. The two work together to turn the equity partners against Bond, eventually forcing him out of the firm
Season 1. The Good Fight starts one year after The Good Wife's end, with Diane retiring. A merger has occurred between three law firms, leading to the biggest firm in the Midwest being formed. Diane is planning to retire and move to South France. She is about to make a down payment on a house.
Season 6. Diane, as well as other partners from Lockhart/Gardner, join Florrick Agos, forming Florrick/Agos/Lockhart. When Alicia is not allowed to be Cary's lawyer in the drug case, Diane takes over, forming a tight bond between the two.
Diane takes a step back from the firm, before discovering that Alicia is planning to leave. She informs Will of the recent discovery and helps him to handle the firm after she and the others have been fired. However, as Alicia has left, Diane realises that her own judgeship is in danger now.
The two grow close again. Following the case, Kurt asks Diane to go away together, or even to get married. Diane refuses, saying that she has to stay for the firm and her work, as that is what she is committed to.
Will and Alicia's suspected affair causes friction between the two name partners; Diane being of the opinion that the relationship is both wrong and unwise, due to Alicia's position as an associate while Will is a name partner. Nevertheless, Diane comforts Will once the affair is broken off. She fights against his suspension, believing that staying away from the law will destroy him. When he is suspended, she runs the firm alone, renaming it Lockhart & Associates.
Shortly after Will's suspension, Diane visits Kurt, who she has not seen in a year. When Kurt asks why she has come, she tells him that she has missed him, revealing that she still has feelings for him, despite the fact that she declined his offer the year before.
Scroll through for an update on the cast now: Elon Musk's Acting Cameos Through the Years. Lockhart Gardner: Attorneys at Law. The Good Wife premiered on CBS in 2009 and starred Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry and Archie Panjabi.
Christine Baranski. The actress continues to play Diane Lockhart on The Good Wife ’s spinoff, The Good Fight, which premiered on CBS All Access in 2017. Baranski also starred in 2017’s A Bad Moms Christmas, reprised her role as Tanya in 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and had a recurring role on The Big Bang Theory.
Panjabi, who played Kalinda Sharma, didn’t return for the seventh and final season. She joined the cast of NBC’s Blindspot for season 2 in 2016 and recurred during seasons 3 and 5. The actress also had a guest role on HBO’s Run in 2020 and the network’s miniseries I Know This Much Is True.
Sarah Steele. Steele recurred as Eli’s daughter, Marissa Gold, and Alicia’s personal assistant for more than 20 episodes during The Good Wife’ s run and has continued to play the role on The Good Fight. Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.
After seven seasons as Eli Gold, Cumming landed a starring role in CBS’ Instinct, which was canceled after two seasons in 2019. In 2020, the actor starred alongside Daniel Radcliffe in the London stage production of the play Endgame at the Old Vic theater.
Charles, who played Will Gardner, left The Good Wife in 2014 after five seasons. He went on to have recurring roles on Inside Amy Schumer, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. In 2017, the actor played Dr. Jerome Oziel in the TV miniseries Law & Order True Crime.
While the former ER star has called the reports “silly gossip,” Panjabi has played coy about her early exit over the years. “In terms of anything that happened on The Good Wife, I think it’s only respectful for it to stay on The Good Wife,” she quipped at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in 2016.