‘So Help Me Todd’ Boss Planned 5 More Seasons — What Would’ve Happened

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the So Help Me Todd series finale “The Tooth Is Out There.”]

We were so close to finally seeing Merritt Folding!

So Help Me Todd ended on a major cliffhanger: Todd (Skylar Astin), in his investigation into who was buying verdicts, discovers that Merritt Folding, the then-unseen partner at the firm, has framed Margaret (Marcia Gay Harden). And who should be stepping off the elevator in the final moments but Folding himself?!

TV Insider caught up with creator Scott Prendergast, over email, to answer our burning questions after that finale and share what would’ve happened next.

Talk about ending the season on Merritt Folding getting off the elevator. Was there already any casting or idea of what you wanted to see with that character onscreen? What did you want to do with bringing that character onscreen now and the effect of that on others like Margaret and Todd? 

Scott Prendergast: Merritt Folding was going to be our Big Bad for Season 3 and beyond. A real enemy for Margaret and Todd to fight together. It would bring Margaret and Beverly [Leslie Silva] and Susan [Inga Schlingmann] together. We wanted Joe Pantoliano, but we hadn’t approached him yet. Those are my feet getting off that elevator.

When did you know you wanted Margaret to be set up to take the fall for Merritt’s crimes? Where had you wanted to take her this season before leaving her in that position?

This was the plan all along, from day 1 of the pilot. All the name partners would be revealed and all would play a part in the show. We wanted to put Margaret in the “Todd” position — family outcast, in trouble, making mistakes — while Todd was on the rise. They would switch places. I liked the idea that high and mighty Margaret would get taken down a few pegs and that her son would once again have to help her. I wanted Margaret and Todd to realize that Alistair Song had been framed (back in Season 1), and for them to go to him for help and advice in Season 3.

And when Margaret was finally arrested for Merritt’s crimes, she would become the family liability (and not Todd, surprisingly) when Lawrence [Matthew Wilkas] was finally running for Governor. And when Margaret was on trial, the Prosecutor (her nemesis Natalie Harris) would be able to point out some shady things Margaret had done (breaking into the tennis office in 208, talking to Harry in 210). Oh, how the mighty mother would have fallen. Ultimately, Margaret’s name would have been cleared — but she would have returned to the law firm in disgrace. And surprise: Susan would have taken her office. Margaret would have been demoted to paralegal and put into Todd’s nook! Then Margaret would have to fight her way back up to the top (which, of course, she would). A delicious turn of events.

What can you say about what would have happened next with Merritt, with Margaret being set up, and the firm?

For the first half of Season 3 they would have been playing a game of cat and mouse. Merritt had dirt on her, and could easily turn her in to the authorities. So Margaret had to play nice and get Todd to find something incriminating to take him down (think Franklin Hart and the empty warehouse in 9 to 5).

Todd’s been slowly coming into his own as a private investigator, though he is still working out of the firm. When would he have gotten his own office somewhere else? 

Right when he was about to branch out on his own, Margaret would have been arrested for Merritt’s crimes. And then while she was out of the office, Todd would have been her man on the inside, a puppet she was controlling, running the office through him. Todd would have set up his own law firm upstairs on the abandoned 28th Floor, once things had calmed down.

Susan had an offer but Margaret also told her she was going to promote her. How would she have handled that, especially given how she felt this season?

Susan was going to leave — and go work for Gus [Jeffrey Nordling]! And Francey [Rosa Arredondo] would have been her assistant! Gus, Francey, and Susan would have been a little threesome at Gus’ firm. And there would have been a Todd and Lyle [Tristen J. Winger] over there named Maude and Miles. We would have seen more of that firm. And then one day the firms would have merged, bringing everyone back together. But Susan would have used Peter’s money to buy Crest, Folding & Wright.  Susan and Margaret had to have a falling out so that their reunion would be so much sweeter — when Susan represented Margaret in the Folding trial — and cleared her name. People were so mad at Susan in Season 2 for turning on Margaret! But that was all Beverly testing them and trying to drive them apart. They would have come back together.

Was the plan to eventually bring Todd and Susan back together?

Yes. In the series finale (Season 7), Susan would have had Todd’s baby, delivered by Allison [Madeline Wise] in a stuck elevator at the law firm. And they would have named the baby Margaret. Don’t despair for Judy though. We ADORED Judy and Heather Morris — but she and Todd were only going to be together for three seasons. Then she moved to Thailand, a free spirit. Her dad was a judge by the way — the corrupt Judge Brixton from 209. See What’s Up Doc? for more insight into Judy.

What did you want to do with Allison’s journey this season, to set her up for what seems like would have been a similar one we’ve been following with Todd, especially when it comes to her relationships with him and Margaret? 

Yes, Allison was becoming Todd (a mess) in Season 2 (and Margaret would have been Todd in Season 3, Lawrence in Season 4 — everybody gets a turn in the dog house). Allison would have pulled herself together in Season 3 though. She would have become a forensic pathologist and Medical Examiner (like Quincy, M.E.), working more closely (and for a PAYCHECK) with her family going forward. Also, she would have taken the apartment next door to Todd — and it was a rent-controlled PALACE (which made him burn with jealousy). She was going to be back on top.

What else can you share about what would have happened in a third season? 

We were going to meet Gus’ ex-wife (we wanted Helen Hunt) and his two evil, sullen daughters. His daughter Paulette was the one who wrapped his car with the Pizza restaurant logo (episode 113). He made her get a job, and to get back at her dad, she took a job delivering pizzas and had his car wrapped in advertisements. Margaret (acting as Paulette’s lawyer in a small civil trial) would have unwisely counseled Paulette to be a little more mature, and nasty Paulette would have had Margaret’s car wrapped with a toilet brush ad.

Also, we were going to meet all of Chet’s [Thomas Cadrot] family and discover that Chet was writing a humorous column about the Wright family antics for his hometown paper in Philadelphia. And we would have met Lyle’s brother and sister and father (we wanted Levar Burton). Susan’s husband Peter was going to die, tragically. And Allison would have met her future husband Seymour at the funeral. Seymour was Peter’s brother and we heard that he was bitten by a shark in episode 113.

Lawrence and Chet would have had some trouble with their 2nd adoption, and Margaret would have had to help them through a custody battle. We were going to meet Francey’s hot policeman boyfriend Jack, and her estranged daughter Jade. Chuck’s parents were going to die in a plane crash and leave all of their money to Allison (they never changed their wills after Chuck and Allison’s divorce, and they originally had the money going to then-daughter-in-law Allison because they didn’t trust Chuck). Allison would have befriended Chuck’s new wife Elise (who was matched with Todd in speed dating way back in episode 121). Elise was a Doctor of philosophy.

And Margaret’s evil stepmother Betty would be found malingering in a nursing home on the Oregon coast. And Todd would have worked with Dick Franks [Dean Winters] again, doing a case for the Lee Sisters (from episode 204). And eight million other stories we didn’t get to tell…

Is there any chance of getting more So Help Me Todd in any way? 

Who knows. It doesn’t seem likely at this point? The fans have been incredible and wildly supportive. Every day, I have like 300 messages from heartbroken fans. We are heartbroken, too. We would love to tell more So Help Me Todd stories, but the sets are gone, and the cast has scattered to the winds. Who knows, who knows. Maybe? I think we are a victim of the strike, current Hollywood economics, and the CBS landscape which was too full of great shows that were working too well. We love CBS. And they loved us. Everybody is sad. But I had all the stories for all seven seasons planned out. And maybe they’ll get told one way or another… Maybe somebody will pick up the spinoffs Allison, ME, or Lyle, P.I.