Patrick J. Adams says it was 'clear' Meghan Markle would join Suits after chemistry read: 'She crushed it'

Patrick J. Adams knew Meghan Markle was joining Suits from the first moment they tested their characters together.

In SiriusXM's Sidebar: A Suits Watch Podcast, the actor behind Mike Ross said it was immediately obvious that the future Duchess of Wales would play Rachel Zane on the legal drama. Adams said that he had worked with Markle on a previous TV pilot. "Meghan and I had done a pilot before, a terrible, terrible pilot together," he said, referring to the 2008 crime comedy pilot Good Behavior. "There was a setting up of a romantic relationship in the pilot of that particular pilot too. And then we never saw each other again."

Since Good Behavior wasn't picked up, Adams and Markle didn't have further interactions beyond the initial shoot. "The pilot failed," he said. "It was terrible and went away. And so we had never seen each other nor spoken to each other again."

Adams was the first actor to join Suits, so he was asked to perform chemistry read-throughs with actresses auditioning to play his love interest. "When I went in to do the chemistry reads with Rachel, [Markle] was right there and she said, 'Hi,'" he recalled. "And I went, 'Oh my God, so good to see you!'"

The actor thinks that their existing familiarity enhanced the chemistry test. "Just knowing each other and getting to calm down and not have those nerves of just getting to know one another really helped," he said. "It was just clear that we had an easygoing thing when we went into that room."

Adams believes that the success of the chemistry audition quickly earned Markle the role. "It was pretty clear, if I remember correctly, that she was going to get the part from the minute we did the chemistry read," he recalled. "It was just so much easier than it was with anybody else."

The actor remains in awe of his costar's talents. "She crushed it," Adams said of Markle. "She crushed it and she crushes it in the show."

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Suits premiered on USA in 2011 and ran for nine seasons, and reached further popularity on streaming after its conclusion. A new Suits series, Suits: L.A., is coming to NBC, starring Arrow's Stephen Amell as former New York prosecutor Ted Black, who is "surrounded by a stellar group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can't help but mix their personal and professional lives," according to an official description.

SiriusXM's Sidebar: A Suits Watch Podcast premieres new episodes Tuesdays.