HBO Renews ‘Perry Mason’ For Season 2
HBO has renewed the 1930s detective drama ‘Perry Mason‘ for a 2nd Season it has been announced.
Based on characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner, the new, reimagined series sees Matthew Rhys (‘The Americans’) play the defence attorney/private investigator in 1932 Los Angeles. Whilst most of the country is recovering from the Great Depression, things in LA are booming, as the Olympics arrive and talking pictures start to take off. Living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator, Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage. But when a child kidnapping goes very wrong, the case of the decade lands at Mason’s doorstep, and he relentlessly pursues the truth revealing a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.
Alongside Rhys, the cast includes John Lithgow (‘Dexter’, ‘The Crown’) as Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan, a personal attorney at the nadir of his career and a semi-regular employer of the private investigator; Shea Whigham (‘Agent Carter’, ‘Boardwalk Empire’) as Pete Strickland, an occasional helping hand to Mason; Chris Chalk (‘Gotham’, ‘The Newsroom’) as Paul Drake, a beat cop with a knack for detective work; Tatiana Maslany (‘Orphan Black’) as Sister Alice, the leader of the Radiant Assembly of God; And Juliet Rylance (‘McMafia’, ‘The Knick’) plays Della Street, E.B. Jonathan’s legal secretary.
“It has been an exciting journey to work with the immensely talented team behind Perry Mason,” commented Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming. “Viewers have relished being transported back in time to 1930’s Los Angeles each week, and we are thrilled to welcome the show back for a second season.”
HBO veteran Tim Van Patten, whose directing credits include the ‘Game of Thrones’ pilot along with episodes of ‘The Sopranos’, ‘Boardwalk Empire’, ‘The Wire’, ‘The Pacific’, ‘Rome’ and ‘Deadwood’ directs and executive-produce the series. Rolin Jones (‘Life in Pieces’, ‘Boardwalk Empire’, ‘Weeds’) and Ron Fitzgerald (‘Weeds’, ‘Westworld’) act as showrunners. Fitzgerald has also executive-produced ‘Westworld’, while Jones served as an executive producer ‘Boardwalk Empire’. The drama comes from Robert Downey Jr’s Team Downey, with Jones and Fitzgerald exec producing alongside Amanda Burrell, Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and Joe Horacek.
‘Perry Mason‘ Season 1 has been airing on Sky Atlantic & NOW TV in the UK.
