Christine Baranski on The Good Fight finale: 'My age was never an issue'

It’s been 13 years since Christine Baranski first took on the role of Diane Lockhart, a senior partner at a law firm, in two successful CBS shows: The Good Wife from 2009 through 2016 and its sequel, The Good Fight, which wrapped its six-season-run last week.

Christine, who is also currently anchoring the fan-favorite HBO Max show The Gilded Age, recently went on the record to discuss the much talked-about series finale of The Good Fight, her experience on both sets and how the world has changed since she first started inhabiting the role.

"My age was never an issue," Christine, who is 70 years old, said to Vanity Fair, referring to the work that Robert and Michelle King, both shows' creators, have carried forward. "We never compromised the character because she was a certain age. Diane never complained about her age. She was always the warrior. I think only once when she loses her life savings in the Ponzi scheme in the pilot, she can't find a job, and she does say something like, ;Is this ageism? Am I too old?' That's the only time she referenced it."

Especially while discussing her character's age, many audience members have brought up Diane's not having children throughout the years that the show has been on the air - a storyline that was included on certain episodes but was never really a focal point on the series.

Christine, who is mom to 38-year-old Isabel Cowles and 35-year-old Lily Cowles in real life, addresses the fact in the interview as well by dissecting her own experience with motherhood. 

"I have had a major career, but I raised two daughters," she said. "I had help and it still haunts me that I had to leave them as often as I did. I think Diane puts a lot of that into nurturing her younger colleagues. She had these dreams: to own a house in the south of France and to have an all-female law firm."

As for the series finale that everyone is still talking about (spoiler alert!), Christine is at ease with how the creators have tied everything up - specifically when it comes to Diane’s relationship with Liz Lawrence, played by Audra McDonald. 

"I think my favorite aspect of the ending of the show is Liz saying, 'You've got to continue the good fight,'" Christine said. "Diane says, 'I'm exhausted' and Liz says, 'take a week off and get back in the game." 

Even more specifically, Christine reveals that the landmark reversal of Roe v Wade happened as they were shooting some of the final scenes - a fact that weighed heavily upon the cast.

"The Dobbs decision came in when we were shooting our second-last episode," said the actor. "By the time we shot the final scene, Roe had been reversed. And the fact that Diane has this ending where you imagine her going to Washington [...] and they've just got to get back and start fighting the good fight again for women is, to me, very moving. They couldn't possibly give these characters a happy ending, but it is definitely an ending where you feel these characters are somehow going to just pick themselves up and move on. They're not going to give up."