When “Perry Mason” debuted on HBO back in 2020, it was meant to be a limited series. But the show was critically acclaimed and extremely popular so now, nearly three years later, it is returning to HBO (and HBO Max) with a juicy new case, lots of morally ambiguous complications and a pair of new showrunners in “The Knick” creators Jack Amiel and Michael Begler.
And Matthew Rhys, who plays Perry Mason in the show, couldn’t be more thrilled, as he told TheWrap, video of which you can watch above.
“There was talk that it could work as a standalone limited but I just thought, You’ve just set this whole thing up. The whole thing is new and fresh. You’ve just joined not only him but this team. Where you go from here, the sky’s the limit. I was very glad that we were given that opportunity,” Rhys said. “I missed the Raymond Chandler-esque detective in him. Mason’s best lawyering work comes from that place of an investigator. At his best he’s firing from that place. The courtroom stuff just became more intimidating.”
For Juliet Rylance (who plays Della Street, Mason’s right hand woman) and Chris Chalk (who plays Paul Drake, a beat cop turned Mason’s most trusted private eye), they were also excited about returning to the show. “I know I wanted to see who Paul is when he has no control. Because he was in such control and on the right side of justice the first season. Who is he when it gets a little hairier and a little fishier?” Chalk said.
Rylance gets a new, more mature relationship this season, something that Rylance sunk her teeth into.
“The first season Della is always on the sidelines and she’s learned to watch and listen to everything. It’s how she’s become so good at what she does,” Rylance said. “And in this season I talked to Jack and Michael early on and we all had the same thought, which is that we wanted to see her work life and her home life be quite different. Her life is very messy and she doesn’t know how to deal with a relationship. The love affair that developed was really thrilling.”
“Perry Mason” returns to HBO and HBO Max this Monday.
