'Perry Mason' Teases a Season Two That'll Thrill Old-School Fans
Anyone remember Perry Mason? The throwback courtroom drama? The detective show with the (great) Matthew Rhys playing a Depression-era detective? There you go! We knew it would ring a bell eventually. The HBO series wrapped its first season in the summer of 2020—AKA the peak of the pit of pandemic-related doldrums—so it's understandable if your memory of the time is foggy. But now that we're all reacquainted, you should know that the team behind the production is currently working away at Season Two.
And after quite some time without any news from the Perry Mason front, we finally have a few casting announcements, along with reports of where we'll pick up with Perry's antics. In short, though? We're in for a much-different future for the show from what we've seen so far—one that might actually more closely resemble the Perry Mason of old.
Here’s everything we know about Season Two of Perry Mason so far.
What will Season Two of Perry Mason be about?
At the end of the Season One finale, we see the birth of Mason and Associates as Della Street, Paul Drake, and Perry Mason become a team. Mason will fight the big legal battles, Street will run the “bread and butter” of the operation, and Drake will take over all the private-investigating duties. Plus, with a new client already in tow, it looks like Perry Mason’s future could resemble the structure of the 1950s version: A new case every week. (Just don’t expect everything to be perfect at the law firm.)
“I kind of hope they don't become a super-team,” Rhys told us before the finale. “What I love about them is they're this group of outsiders that are united by that fact. One more thing that draws for me about Mason was how flawed he is, and how wrong he gets things, and how difficult he finds things. I hope that continues. I hope all of a sudden we don't see him as this incredible trial lawyer and everything's rosy, you know?”
Knowing the tone of Perry Mason, things will definitely not be rosy. Especially for Paul Drake, played by Chris Chalk, who we see turning in his badge at the end of Season One. When we interviewed Chalk, it seemed like an even bigger role for Drake was in store for future episodes—the LAPD, led by major-bad-guy Detective Holcomb, coming after their former officer.
"Once [Drake] turns that badge in, he's living the most dangerous life possible for an African American, because now he's a former, he betrayed the police. They know his name," Chalk says. "They know you and they know you actively are coming against them, so I think in the future Paul faces a lot more emotional and spiritual freedom, but probably physically he's going to be in a lot more danger."
In November 2021, we finally received a few crumbs of Perry Mason production news. According to Deadline, the HBO series added seven new members to its cast. Katherine Waterston will join Perry Mason as a series regular, along with recurring actors Hope Davis, Jon Chaffin, Fabrizio Guido, Peter Mendoza, Onohoua Rodriguez and Jee Young Han. Waterson will play Ginny Aimes, a model schoolteacher, who will school Perry's son, Teddy. Apparently, she might even be a love interest for our favorite detective, too.
Here's another significant bit of Season Two plot Deadline shared with the news:
Season 2 of Perry Mason takes place months after the end of the Dodson trial. Perry (Matthew Rhys) has moved off the farm, ditched the milk truck, he’s even traded his leather jacket for a pressed suit. It’s the worst year of the Depression, and Perry and Della (Juliet Rylance) have set the firm on a safer path pursuing civil cases instead of the tumultuous work criminal cases entail. Unfortunately, there isn’t much work for Paul (Chris Chalk) in wills and contracts, so he’s been out on his own. An open-and-closed case overtakes the city of Los Angeles, and Perry’s pursuit of justice reveals that not everything is always as it seems.
If anything, the plot description confirms what Rhys told us over a year ago, which is that Mason will become an even stronger man by the next season—shedding his baggage from Season One.
“I personally think he's gonna shed a lot,” he said. “The first season is a real catharsis for him. He finally finds a place. I think he's spent a long time, especially since the war, being this loner, this outsider, which possibly makes him a good private investigator because he's always looking in. Finally, [Mason’s] rage and resentment about injustice—I know it's rather obvious but he realizes how he can channel all of that into redeeming himself.”
When will Season Two of Perry Mason debut?
Potentially due to production issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, there hasn’t been any word yet from HBO about timing for the second entry in Perry Mason. We’ll keep you posted on any news about when we might see Perry return to the courtroom.
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