Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: ballard, Bosch

Ballard: Maggie Q Discusses Series Documenting Pre-Fire Malibu

Ballard star Maggie Q discusses how author Michael Connelly's new "Bosch" spinoff stands as a reminder of what Malibu was before the fires.

The City of Los Angeles is the biggest co-star in Michael Connelly's Bosch series, its sequel Bosch: Legacy and new spinoff Ballard, and all three series shoot on real locations all over the city at a time when production there are on the wane. It's increasingly rare for movies and TV shows to actually be shot in Los Angeles due to the insanely high costs of production there, which is ironic considering that's where Hollywood is, the studios, production offices, and huge talent pool of above and below the line personnel are based. While talking to TV Insider, Ballard star Maggie Q talked about how the first season of the series inadvertently documented Malibu and the Pacific Palisades before huge parts of it were destroyed by the recent fires that swept through Los Angeles. The series might be one of the few visual records of the area before the fire, with many visual memories of Malibu.

Renée Ballard is a surfer when she's off-duty, and lives in Malibu, so she's close to the sea in contrast to Harry Bosch, who lives in the Hollywood Hills. In the books and the TV series, she has bought a high-end trailer in an upmarket trailer park in Malibu so her commute to work in the city would be easier after her morning surf.

"She lives in Malibu," said Maggie Q. "It's a very, very sad thing when this airs that we're going to see a lot of Malibu that no longer exists and a lot of Malibu that, even if rebuilt, will never be the same. That coastline was my daily commute in the show, and we spent a lot of time there, and I've been back since and cried the whole way from PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) all the way up to deep in Malibu. They called it the Palisades Fire, but half of Malibu's gone, and though it's not in-name, it's a Malibu fire. So, we've immortalized this part of the West Side of LA that will never be the same, and I think it's going to be very bittersweet to see what we captured — and I know what we captured because I was there — and what currently no longer exists."

Michael Connelly likes his books to reflect the current reality in Los Angeles, so it's possible that Ballard's home might have been caught up in the LA fires. Whether it's still standing will be found out in the next Bosch & Ballard novel, which might be coming next year, and in the second season of Ballard if it's renewed.

Ballard begins streaming on Prime Video this week.

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