Author Michael Connelly thought the opioid crisis depicted in his Bosch novel "Two Kinds of Truth" might be too topical for the series, but the producers felt this was a good thing, so they kept it as part of the season's plotline.
The officer-involved shooting storyline with Chief Irvin Irving (Lance Reddick) was designed to highlight how political the job is, as well as the differences in how a case can seem to the public vs. internally to the police.
While previous seasons used older Bosch stories for inspiration, Michael Connelly's latest book, "Two Kinds of Truth," seemed like a natural source for season 5, since it happened to play almost as a sequel to events from season 4.
Season 5 marks the return of showrunner Eric Overmyer after a season-long stint on Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle." He's co-showrunner with Dan Pyne, who ran season 4.
Jamie Hector, who plays J. Edgar, founded a non-profit organization called Moving Mountains, Inc., which instructs youth in drama, film, dance and voice.