Perry Mason comes alive yet again!
For those who grew up reading mystery and crime novels in the 90s, you have the Hardy Boys to read up on (or Nancy Drew if you fancied a female investigator). But if you’re like my father who grew up in a house rife with detective novels, another name would pop up a lot, no not Sherlock Holmes, that goes without saying, you’d have the Private Investigator/Defense Attorney Perry Mason.
While I couldn’t remember any of the novels (around three I think) of the character that I’ve read when I was a kid. It’s interesting to see that we’re getting yet another live-action adaptation of the PI/Lawyer. With a few attempts in live-action series way back in the 70s and 80s, we’re getting a modern adaptation portrayed by Matthew Rhys as Perry Mason and an HBO Original production.
In this version of Perry Mason stars Matthew Rhys as Perry Mason, a low-rent private investigator who is living check-to-check and is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage; John Lithgow as Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan, a struggling attorney and a semi-regular employer of Mason; Juliet Rylance as Della Street, E.B. Jonathan’s creative and driven legal secretary; Tatiana Maslany as Sister Alice McKeegan, the leader of the Radiant Assembly of God, preaching to a hungry congregation and a radio audience across the country; Chris Chalk as Paul Drake, a beat cop with a knack for detective work; and Shea Whigham as Pete Strickland, who is hired by Mason as an extra set of eyes on his various investigations.
The series also stars Stephen Root, Gayle Rankin, Nate Corddry, Veronica Falcón, Jefferson Mays, Lili Taylor, Andrew Howard, Eric Lange, and Robert Patrick.
Here’s the series trailer:
Perry Mason is Based on characters created by author Erle Stanley Gardner, debuts the same time as the U.S. on Monday, 22 June at 9am exclusively on HBO GO and HBO, with a same day encore at 10pm on HBO. Subsequent new episodes premiere every Monday at the same time.