Is Renee Ballard based on a true story? Here's everything we know

Renee Ballard is the name of the upcoming Bosch: Legacy spinoff and will finally feature the eponymous character playe by actress Maggie Q. at the centre stage of the drama. While Renee Ballard appeared on the third season of Bosch: Legacy, the fact that the character will finally have a show of it's own is great news. Renee Ballard is a frequent character in the Michael Connelly book series from which both the shows have been derived.

Although the character of Ballard is a fictional one, Connelly himself has admitted that he drew inspiration from the real-life former LAPD Detective Mitzi Roberts.

Here's everything that you need to know.

Renee Ballard is based on LAPD Detective Mitzi Roberts

Renee Ballard, as per the literary source is concerned, often appears alongside Harry Bosch to spearhead the investigation of cold cases. As previously mentioned, the author based the character on the now-retired decorated LAPD Detective Mitzi Roberts. It is further interesting to note that Roberts worked as a consultant on the the original Bosch and appeared as herself on the episode Blue Religion from the show's debut season.

Roberts has led a long and successful career in the LAPD and therefore has scores of stories that would make her contribution to the show significant. As of this writing, there's no news whether Roberts will be joining the upcoming show as a consultant or not, but we sure hope that she does.

Throughout her career, Roberts was involved in solving multiple cold cases, with the most prominent among them being the case of the notorious serial killer Samuel Little. This particular killer was active in the vicinity of Los Angeles during the late '80s and was responsible for murdering many women.

In her capacity as an LAPD Cold Case Homicide Unit investigator, Roberts was also trusted with the responsibility of solving the infamous Black Dahlia cold case, which involved the murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short back in 1947. Roberts's investigation led to the discovery of Dr. George Hodel as the likely perpetrator.

Titus Welliver speaks about Renee Ballard

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bosch: Legacy star Titus Welliver shared his insights about the relationship between Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch as illustrated in the books:

"The Renée Ballard spinoff series, yes. In one of the last episodes of this final season, we introduce the character of Renée Ballard, played brilliantly by Maggie Q. That’s a relationship that exists within the books. She’s younger than Harry is. They cross paths and in the books, because obviously, you’ve got more time and there has been several books written with the two of them working together, they forge a relationship."

Welliver further added:

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"He becomes kind of a mentor to her, and she also grants him access to stuff that he wouldn’t normally be able to get because he’s no longer a cop. He has sort of paternal feelings for her. It’s a beautifully realized relationship in the books. Now, in 45 or 50 minutes of an episode you can only do so much, but Maggie and I had really good chemistry. We fast became friends, and I think the introduction to her character is really really strong, and it’s rooted in the Bosch cannons."

Bosch: Legacy is available on Prime Video.

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