“I can’t believe that it’s ending,” she told Parade.com. “I can’t believe I won’t see those people in that context of just showing up. After a long hiatus, you just, you’re back at it.” Baranski played Diane on The Good Wife before the spinoff The Good Fight first premiered in 2017. “It was such a part of my life for 13 years, but certainly the six years that I did The Good Fight, honestly, I enjoyed the work more and more, which is unusual for an actor to be able to say after that much time playing a character,” Baranski admitted. Continue reading to find out what Christine Baranski told Parade.com she’ll miss most about her Good Fight character and what she had to say about the show’s ending.
Is it harder to say goodbye to Diane Lockhart than other characters that you’ve played?
Yes, because I think I was able to incorporate so much of my own feelings and thoughts and questions into the character, because it took place in the same reality that Christine is living in—the reality Diane was living in, meaning, you know, the Trump years and the post-Trump years and the madness of the present times we’re living in. All of that was used in the show and so many of the issues that we dealt with were addressed in the show. I could be Christine reading the paper or watching the news and then bring my concerns or my frustrations or anger onto the set and bring it into the world of Diane and the legal world.
What will you miss most about Diane?
I’ll miss trying to measure up to her intelligence and her beautiful rationality. She had a lot of dignity, and she was smart but never strident. And although she could be girlish, she just maintained a kind of authority and confidence that I think inspired me. I love stepping into those shoes of such a confident, intelligent woman.
When we see Diane this season, she’s really struggling with the world around her. I think she described it as a crazy carnival ride that doesn’t stop. Were you able to relate to those feelings that she was experiencing?
Totally. Totally. As I say, it was so reflective of how I was feeling and funny she comes back from Italy, but I was in Italy last September and October, and I spent over three weeks there in another culture and I remember having the same feeling when I got back, like, “Oh my God, back in the USA.” It’s all news, and it’s just so strident and loud, and that sense of “I think I’m going a little crazy”—I certainly could relate to it and her need to just, as she said, “Get off the wheel.” Just stop. Stop feeling such anxiety and rage about what was going on. After all, she was a lawyer, so she was literally watching the rule of law not working. I mean, what kind of a country are we or will we be if the rules don’t apply or if the rules don’t apply to wealthy powerful people? Look what we’re going through with Merrick Garland and Trump. I mean, is he gonna be held accountable or are we somehow just going to delay it and appeal it until there’s another House of Representatives and Senate and they’ll just exonerate him? I mean, we’re living through really transitional, crazy times and our democracy is really, really in trouble. So it was in many ways exhausting to play that character because I had to stay awake through it all, but that was okay. I’m glad I stayed awake!
We see how Diane copes with the madness that is happening in the world. How do you cope with everything that’s going on?
By playing Diane Lockhart! That’s a cop-out, but, you know what? I have three beautiful little grandsons and they’re all under the age of eight, and when I’m with them, that crazy world just falls away, and I’m just in the present with them. I have a beautiful family and on my hiatuses, I’ve made a point of traveling, looking at beautiful art, or reading things that uplift me. But I do think it’s important for people to find a way of turning the lens away from the harsh glare of what we’re living through or it can be quite soul-killing.
While filming this season, did you find yourself wanting to avoid the news just so it wouldn’t be too much because you were dealing with it in Diane’s world and then your real world?
Yes. Well for instance, when we were finally finished shooting a season, I was always so relieved to just get away, to get away from that headspace, definitely. In this case, I’ve gone straight into The Gilded Age … So The Gilded Age has taken me in another direction, which is refreshing. It’s refreshing to suddenly be in 19th century America even though it’s got its own challenges being in a corset and a wig and those very exact matters and that very strict way that they had in society, but it’s refreshing not to be in America in 2022!
I think it’s Eli Gold (played by Alan Cumming) who asked Diane where she finds her optimism. I would love to know, where do you find your own optimism?
My grandsons inspire me with just their ability to live in the present moment. And I find that there’s still so much good being done in the world that doesn’t get into the news. I find optimism, for instance, in my workplace—just people’s level of professionalism and kindness. I find there’s kindness all around and that people are still capable of real kindness and doing really good work. And then when I travel or I seek out beauty. I find the work of the great artists, the great painters, and writers to be really inspirational because I think human beings are capable of just such grandeur and such greatness. That’s still there the James Webb Telescope. Excuse me, how astonishing is that? Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+ So yeah, I think bad news makes for good entertainment. It’s a horrifying thing to admit, but we are addicted to bad news because it titillates us … It’s this horrible thing and that horrible thing, but you can turn away from that and look and see so much goodness all around as well.
I feel like Diane, once you start doomscrolling it’s kind of hard to stop.
That’s actually in the show, her therapist tells her she’s got to stop doomscrolling. So Marissa, my adorable Sarah Steele—Marissa brings her kids’ toys and said, “Just play with these.” And then when we finished shooting the scene it was a huge bag full of little toys and trinkets, and I gave them to my little grandsons. They absolutely love all these little toys and the kids are like trading them and putting them all around and I think “Yeah, we should just play more.”
Are you happy with how The Good Fight’s story ended?
I think so. There’s an inevitability in that the show is called The Good Fight. I think the way Diane leaves, you will think that is going to continue, and that makes me happy that she didn’t end embittered or dead or anything sensational. There’s a moral authority to the ending, which I think is rare these days. I hope it pleases people because I left feeling, “Okay. Yeah.” Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
After six seasons of The Good Fight, what do you want viewers to take away from Diane?
Just that there are fabulous women out in the world like Diane Lockhart who are highly educated, well dressed, well spoken, fighting the good fight, and that they should be appreciated. And how wonderful the television that the Kings [creators Robert and Michelle King] actually wrote as a leading lady, a woman over 50—and by now I’m 70—and still wrote this woman’s life where she’s still very much on top of things. She’s got her work, she’s got her marriage, she’s dealing with the world. Age was never discussed on The Good Fight. She never rued the fact that she didn’t have children. She was never a victim. And it’s wonderful. I hope it shows that there are stories to be created in film and in television about this huge population of fabulous human beings who make up women over 50. Season 6 of The Good Fight premieres Sept. 8 on Paramount+ with new episodes dropping weekly. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Next, find out what to read based on your favorite fall TV shows.
