Perry Mason, a property practically synonymous with noir-driven detective dramas, has awaken from its dormancy, as evidenced by the imminent arrival of HBO’s long-developing reboot series.
Matthew Rhys, the Emmy-winning former co-star of FX’s The Americans, stars as the eponymous protagonist in this 8-episode whodunnit series, which puts author Erle Stanley Gardner’s embattled lawyer (famously played by Raymond Burr across four decades,) through HBO’s peak television lens, producing a stylish small-screen offering rife with class-contrasting aesthetics of the Great Depression. It all comes together to frame the case of a child kidnapping that proves to be dangerously connected to a diverse array of institutional corruption.
Perry Mason HBO Trailer
Check out the newly-released full trailer for HBO’s Perry Mason just below, showcasing more of the insane exploits of Rhys’s version of the gumshoeing lawyer.
And while you’re at it, you can also check out the earlier teaser trailer.
“I don’t like it here. Everybody’s up to something, hiding something. Everybody’s got an angle and everybody is guilty.”
The opening lines of Rhys’s Perry Mason in the teaser sets up a retro-noir montage bearing a façade of glitzy glamor that gives way to ominous elements in the City of Angels like gangsters, gunmen, bent cops and, more prominently, the cult-like congregation of Sister Alice (Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany), who appears to be a silver-tongued Svengali with a national radio show on which she pushes the ideology of her organization, the Radiant Assembly of God. Yet, despite navigating a perilous urban miasma, Mason’s moral modus operandi becomes clear when he states, “The way I see it, there’s what’s legal and there’s what’s right.”
Perry Mason HBO Release Date
Perry Mason will premiere on HBO on Sunday, June 21 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Perry Mason HBO Details
As HBO’s official synopsis for Perry Mason further teases of the series:
1931, Los Angeles. While the rest of the country struggles through the Great Depression, this city is booming! Oil! Olympic Games! Talking Pictures! Evangelical Fervor! And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong. Based on characters created by author Erle Stanley Gardner, this drama series follows the origins of American fiction’s most legendary criminal defense lawyer, Perry Mason. When the case of the decade breaks down his door, Mason’s relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.
Joining the aforementioned Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany as part of the officially-named Perry Mason cast are John Lithgow, Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalk, Shea Whigham, Stephen Root, Gayle Rankin, Nate Corddry, Veronica Falcon, Jefferson Mays, Lili Taylor, Andrew Howard, Eric Lange and Robert Patrick.
Perry Mason operates under the stewardship of creators/writers/showrunners Ron Fitzgerald and Rolin Jones, who previously teamed on shows such as Friday Night Lights and Weeds. Thee duo also serve as executive producers, joined in that capacity by Amanda Burrell, Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Ron Fitzgerald, Joe Horacek, Rolin Jones and Timothy Van Patten (who also directs), and co-executive Aida Rodgers. Additionally, star Matthew Rhys carries a producer credit. Interestingly, Robert Downey Jr.’s executive producer credit is the result of his early involvement with the project, during which he was eyed to star on the series, which, at the time was to be run by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto.