Diane Lockhart is back.
In The Good Fight, Christine Baranski‘s powerful, sharp-witted character — who she’s now played for a whopping 10 years — is still trying to make sense of life in a Donald Trump world, but she’s more energized than ever.
Season 3 of The Good Fight, the popular spinoff of predecessor The Good Wife, picks up where it left off: a frustrated Lockhart, along with her colleagues, is gaining mastery over her reactions and learning to channel them in more productive ways (which we will not reveal here). You can expect big, explosive things from the show, as always.
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Global News caught up with Baranski in New York City during a CBS press junket to talk about what’s to come in Season 3 and, of course, the power of Lockhart.
Global News: The world has a great affection for Diane. A lot of people are happy she’s back.
Christine Baranski: I know! She’s great and she’s been a great character for me. I’m going on my 10th year playing this character. Can you believe it?
She really shows what powerful women are capable of.
It’s amazing that I’m playing this character now, at a time when women are saying: “No, wait a minute. We need to be in power. Our time has come — we’re going to run for office.” Diane has been that woman for 10 years. She’s always in the room where it happens — with the men — and she’s more than comfortable chewing them out, getting them in line. She’s very comfortable in a man’s world without losing her femininity. It’s like culture finally caught up.
How hard is it being constantly inundated by Trump, both at work and in your personal life? Does it get overwhelming?
Yes, it does. Last year, Season 2, it was about how she couldn’t cope with it. She was glued to the TV, you see her in bed channel surfing and everything is about Trump. She took to microdosing psilocybin and felt like she was going insane. It’s all Trump all the time, and she doesn’t know where to put her rage; that’s what so many people are feeling.
Particularly, I think, women who have fought for decades for human rights. Are we actually marching again? Fighting for these same issues? Last season was really challenging because, like Diane, I am a liberal feminist. I would put on the TV first thing in the morning, watch cable news… yet another crazy thing happened, some new outrage. I’d go down, shoot a scene, then go home after work and I’d put on the cable news… by the time the season ended, I was psychically and spiritually exhausted.
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In a sense, Diane is a trailblazer in that she doesn’t fall into stereotypes.
There will be more and more such female characters on TV as we go forward. What I love about her is she’s sophisticated, educated, well-spoken… she has a sex life and she’s a certain age. But we don’t fall into a stereotype with her. She’s never been some angry bitch, she’s never been a woman who’s maybe successful but goes home and she has no life. She’s a fabulous woman and she never makes an issue of her age. Nobody else does, either.
What can viewers expect in Season 3?
We’re back in the belly of the beast in terms of the #MeToo movement and the Trump era. You will see much more of Diane and Kurt and the dynamic of that marriage. I won’t say what it is, but… you’re going to see their marriage affected by this presidency. The show will start with an episode about women in the workplace. It’s a strong start to the season, that’s all I’ll say.
‘The Good Fight’ premieres on March 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on W Network.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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