Will Louis Learn the Truth About Mike? 6 Things to Know About Suits' Midseason Return

Is Louis really going to expose Mike?
Suitsresumes its third season on Thursday (9/8c, USA), picking up right where the midseason finale left off: Louis (Rick Hoffman) discovering that Mike (Patrick J. Adams) does not have a Harvard file at the firm.
"From the beginning [of the premiere], he pursues it," creator and executive producer Aaron Korsh tells TVGuide.com. "There's no way for him not to. Louis loves the law — he worships it — and he cannot have anyone besmirch it or the firm's name. But at the same time, someone could've just taken the file or it got lost or something. He's not sure exactly what's going on, but he obviously thinks something is amiss."
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On Thursday's premiere, which features a cameo by Michael Phelps, Louis will make his suspicions known to Donna (Sarah Rafferty), who has to do some quick thinking to throw him off the scent. But will it be enough?
Here are six things to expect from Louis' probe and the remaining six episodes of the season.
1. If not now, when? Donna, Harvey (Gabriel Macht), Rachel (Meghan Markle) and Mike himself rally to try to keep Louis at bay. But even if Louis doesn't uncover the truth now — "nothing is permanently resolved" by the end of the season, Korsh says — he has to eventually, right? "They're definitely planting the seed that he will find out," Adams says. "But it's not really about him finding out about him, but all the ways he can dig deeper. The moment he finds out Mike never went to Harvard, we want to get all the pieces in place that it's not as simple for him to really know what's going on. But the threat of him finding out is very real in these episodes." But does Louis actually want to expose Mike? "If you remember, the second episode of the series, he blackmails Mike," Korsh says. "That's not that ethical. The good news about Louis is when he has something personal to gain, his ethics fly out the window. We never know which Louis is going to show up."
2. Will Sheila (Rachael Harris) find out Louis snooped? Lest we forget, Louis has a dirty little secret of his own, having pried through his gal pal's files against her orders. "I won't say if she does [find out] or not, but their relationship is explored and it's a major part of the last six [episodes]," Korsh says.
3. Double the Macht: A flashback scene with Harvey's late pops was cut at the last minute earlier this season, but the show will host a real-life family reunion between Macht and his father, Stephen Macht. The elder Macht plays Henry Gerard, a notoriously strict Harvard professor who has a key role in Louis' investigation into Mike's collegiate credits. Father and son have a big scene together in next week's episode, but Harvey and Professor Gerard do not get along. "We've discussed casting his dad for a long time, but we just needed the right part," Korsh says. "When I came up with this part, I thought of Gabriel's father and told him and he said, 'Let's do it.' He killed it. They wanted to do an amazing job and you could just see it, and I was so happy with the scene. There's a definite chance he can come back in the future."
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4. Romance redux: Harvey and Scottie (Abigail Spencer) will indeed give it another go, but is the commitment-phobe actually ready this time around? "I certainly think he believes he is ready for a serious relationship," Korsh says. "The question is: Can he handle it? He's definitely ready to try it and wants it, but wanting it and being able to navigate it are different." The situation is compounded by the fact that Harvey offered her a position at the firm without consulting Jessica, who has reservations about hiring Scottie — not because of her, but Harvey. "Jessica knows how great Scottie is, but she also knows how Harvey is," Torres says. "It was Harvey's thing with Scottie that concerns her. They're dating and they're explosively complicated people. She's concerned for both of them. But if they weren't dating, Jessica would hire her in a heartbeat."
5. Playing house: Don't worry, Rachel and Mike are still going strong and will decide whether to move in together pretty quickly — a far cry from Korsh's original plan to break them up in the midseason finale. "They're in a really good place right now and you see how happy and comfortable with each other they are, and how much she supports him in the whole Louis thing," Markle says. "At the onset, things look lovely and Stepford, but conflict can always arise." That won't be law school for now. Rachel won't start attending Columbia until the fourth season, where Markle expects complications. "You change one huge element — someone's away, she now has a whole new world — and there will be problems," she says. "It's the same way you saw blondes checking out Mike every episode. Rachel could have other suitors! We might see Mike get a taste of his own medicine. I'm like, 'This is the luckiest guy in the world and he doesn't see it!'"
6. A tale of two endings: The show shot two different endings for the finale, and Korsh has not yet decided which way to go. "It's a scene that would be included or not," he says. "If we include it, it's one kind of cliff-hanger. If we don't, it is also a cliff-hanger, but a different one and a different set of questions it poses. It would make fans wonder completely different things."
Suits returns Thursday at 9/8c on USA.