The Lincoln Lawyer’s season will be waving goodbye to Andrea “Andy” Freemann and welcoming a new no-nonsense prosecutor to the courtroom. The show’s eponymous character Mickey Haller is going to have his work cut out challenging this new character, especially because he’ll be doing as the defendant in his own murder trial. According to the novel on which the show’s fourth season is based, Michael Connolly’s The Law of Innocence, “Death Row Dana” is the last person a defendant wants to meet when they take to the stand.

The casting of Constance Zimmer as Dana in The Lincoln Lawyer has already made clear what a tough opponent she’s going to be for Mickey. Zimmer’s CV already includes another formidable prosecutor of the truth, in the shape of Washington Herald investigative reporter Janine Skorsky from House of Cards. Skorsky didn’t pull any punches in her attempts to uncover the crimes of Frank and Claire Underwood. Fans of The Lincoln Lawyer can expect the same from Dana Berg in season 4 of the series, pitting her directly against its central hero.

Dana Berg Is Mickey's Rival Prosecutor In The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 – New Character Explained

She's A Formidable Opponent With A Twist

In many ways, Dana Berg is the mirror image of Mickey Haller as a lawyer, only on the other side of the court benches. Few can beat Mickey at the defense table when his client’s up against it, and The Law of Innocence suggests that the same is true of Dana at the prosecutor’s table when she’s going in for the kill. In this sense, Berg is the perfect successor to season 2’s courtroom antagonist Andy Freemann, who apparently won against Mickey in multiple cases prior to their Lincoln Lawyer showdown at Lisa Trammell’s murder trial. Like Andy, Dana will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of victory.

She also has history with Mickey’s ex-wife Maggie Mherson, having worked with her in the past. This backstory should be a source of tension in The Lincoln Lawyer’s season 4 as Maggie returns to help Mickey try and prove his innocence. What’s more, as her intimidating nickname suggests, “Death Row Dana” specializes in obtaining convictions for murder, some of which result in a death sentence for the defendant. She’s in luck, too, as The Lincoln Lawyer’s next big case will be a murder trial – the murder trial of Mickey Haller himself.

Dana Being Nicknamed "Death Row Dana" Makes Her Mickey's Most Dangerous Prosecutor Foe Yet

She'll Be Prosecuting Mickey Himself, For A Crime That Can Carry The Death Penalty

In this sense, season 4 puts Mickey in a different position from his other courtroom showdowns. In previous cases, he was fighting to win and secure the freedom of his client. In this case, he’s fighting for his own freedom, and possibly his life. This situation ups the stakes for “Death Row Dana,” who has the chance to put Mickey Haller himself on death row if she prosecutes him successfully.

The season will begin with all the odds stacking up against Mickey's innocence and in Dana’s favor.

With a police officer discovering the bloodied corpse of Sam Scales in the back of Mickey’s car at the end of season 3, things don’t look good for him at the moment. If “Death Row” Dana Berg is all she’s cracked up to be as a prosecutor, Mickey’s in big trouble, even if he does have his own ingenuity and supreme legal expertise on his side. The season will begin with all the odds stacking up against his innocence and in Dana’s favor, placing her in a position of power over him directly that no prosecutor has ever had before.

Will Dana Be The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4's Big Villain?

She's Just Doing Her Job

At the same time, Dana Berg will just be doing her job as an attorney in prosecuting Mickey for murder. It’s not her fault that there’s clear evidence against him, and just because she’s trying to win the case doesn’t mean she holds any personal malice against him. She’ll certainly be Mickey’s primary onscreen antagonist throughout much of season 4, just as Andrea Freemann was in season 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer, but that doesn’t necessarily make her a villain.

From the audience’s point of view, it’s clear that Mickey Haller didn’t commit the murder he’s being accused of. Even if he weren’t the show’s hero, his own shock at discovering he had a dead body in the trunk would be enough to convince us of his innocence. While Dana is just doing her job in court, there’s no doubt that somebody meant Mickey harm by framing him for murder. As The Lincoln Lawyer’s fourth season develops, the person who framed him should reveal themselves as the real villain of the storyline.