For months now, we've been worried about an impending fatality on Season 6 of The Good Wife. Ever since it was announced that Archie Panjabi would be departing the CBS legal drama at the end of this season, fans have wondered: Will Kalinda die? It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. After all, the writers weren't shy about gunning down Will Graham in a courtroom last season when actor Josh Charles wanted to pursue other opportunities — and Will was a more integral character even than Kalinda. So while it's right to be worried, I can't help but wonder... what if we're worried about the wrong character? The tumultuous events of Season 6 could be leading up to another death: Lemond Bishop.
Played by the magnetic Mike Colter, Bishop has been a character who has circled the periphery of The Good Wife six years, first appearing in the Season 1 episode "Fleas." But the drug kingpin became more central to the story in Season 6, as the SA office's attempt to put him away led to lots of drama for the lawyers at Florrick, Agos, & Lockhart. First Cary was arrested for helping Bishop's drug mules, then Kalinda falsified evidence to exonerate him, and now Diane might take the fall for the faked metadata.
However, there's one sign that Bishop's about to be gone for good: Mike Colter has been cast as the lead in Netflix's Marvel series Luke Cage ; he'll first appear as a supporting player in the upcoming AKA Jessica Jones , and then headline his own show premiering in 2016. While it's not impossible to do two television shows at once, it's pretty darn difficult when you're the star of one. Therefore, I predict that Colter's new superhero status means a toe tag for Bishop.
How will Chicago's slickest drug lord go out? Here are a few possibilities:
Kalinda Will Kill Him
Most of the theories swirling around a potential Kalinda death have Bishop killing her. (Or, more accurately, having her killed since Bishop never ever gets his own hands dirty.) Wouldn't it be ironic, then, if the reverse were true and Kalinda were to kill Bishop? (And not in that Alanis Morissette kind of way. Like, actually ironic.) It's not too hard to see how the normally cool and collected investigator could reach such a breaking point, either.
In the most recent episode, "Winning Ugly," Cary went to ASA Geneva Pine to offer to testify against Bishop, knowing that Kalinda was about to do the same to protect Diane against jail time for the evidence she falsified. But Kalinda knows that there will be violent retribution for anyone who testifies against Bishop — so when she finds out what Cary's done, she'll go on the offense and kill Bishop to prevent him from taking action against her former (current?) lover.
A Rival Drug Cartel Will Assassinate Him
Or perhaps this whole Bishop/testifying/fake evidence story line will be wrapped up in a wholly unexpected way: with Bishop's death at the hands of an unrelated foe. It would definitely be unexpected (and unexpectedly hilarious) if, after all this dramatic tension, the SA's case against F/A/L fell apart... simply because their target had already been assassinated by a rival gang.
Being a drug lord isn't exactly the most stable line of work. Bishop has been at the top for a good long while, so it wouldn't be too shocking to see someone try to knock him down.
He'll Be Murdered By His Own Son
Of course, the biggest shock of all would be to see Bishop offed by his own flesh and blood. The increased focus on Bishop this season has also meant an increased focus on his adoring son, Dylan. Sure, maybe Dylan is just around to humanize the cold-blood tyrant — but I prefer to think that the writers have some sort of master plan in place here. How would kind young Dylan arrive at such a drastic action? Besides, he practically seems to idolize his father! Well, for one very specific reason: Bishop killed his mom.
Way back in the Season 2 episode "Ham Sandwich," Bishop's wife Katrina filed for divorce and declined a generous settlement offer, choosing to take her kingpin husband to court instead to fight for custody of Dylan. The very next day, she was found dead of an overdose. (Coincidence? Yeah, right.) I'm not sure exactly how Dylan might find out about his father's involvement in his mother's death, but wouldn't it be just like the Good Wife writers to build us up with all the legal mumbo jumbo surrounding Bishop, only to have him gunned down on the homefront for a completely unrelated reason?
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