In the summer of 2020, the classic legal drama, Perry Mason, was given the reboot treatment, with a darker and grittier version of Raymond Burr’s titular character portrayed by Matthew Rhys (who stepped in for a departing Robert Downey Jr.). The series, which followed the iconic character as a struggling investigator-turned-attorney attempting to solve the case of a missing child in its first season, was quickly picked up for a second chapter not long after its HBO debut, allowing for future cases and further expansion of the character as he becomes the defense attorney we all know and love.
But, a lot of time has passed since the second season order (nearly three years, in fact), and so some might have forgotten about the upcoming season or the show entirely. Don’t worry if you fall into that camp, as we have put together a notebook of information we have about Perry Mason Season 2, including its release date, cast (both returning members and new additions), and what kind of case the titular character will be investigating this time around.
Perry Mason Season 2 Premieres March 6th On HBO
Those who have either forgotten how things went down on Perry Mason Season 1, or just never got around to watching it, don't have all that much time to get up to speed, as Perry Mason will premiere at 9 p.m. ET, Monday, March 6th on HBO, the network has announced. If you don’t have cable you won’t be out of luck, as the show will also be available to stream for anyone with an active HBO Max subscription.
Matthew Rhys, Juliet Rylance And Chris Chalk Lead The Returning Perry Mason Cast
The debut season of Perry Mason was largely led by Matthew Rhys’ titular character, Juliet Rylance’s Delta Street, and Chris Chalk’s Paul Drake, with the sixth and final episode ending with the attorney, legal secretary, and former police detective, respectively, starting their own practice. It appears the show’s second season will pick up with those three core characters, as all three actors are slated to reprise their roles in the upcoming second chapter.
Also set to return to the Perry Mason cast in March are Shea Whigham as Pete Strickland, Eric Lange as Gene Holcomb, Justin Kirk as Hamilton Burger, and Diarra Kilpatrick as Clara Drake, though it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for more actors to once again populate the show’s version of 1930s Los Angeles.
Newcomers To The Perry Mason Cast Include Sean Astin, Katherine Waterston, And Hope Davis
Although the Perry Mason Season 2 cast is losing actors like John Lithgow and Tatiana Maslany, who previously portrayed Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan and Sister Alice McKeegan, respectively, the show will be adding some incredibly talented faces to the large ensemble come March 2023.
In November 2021, Deadline reported that HBO had made a massive addition (the first of several) to the cast, with some of the bigger names on the list being Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them breakout Katherine Waterston and the talented Hope Davis, who has appeared in everything from Captain America: Civil War to Synecdoche, New York. According to the report, Waterston will be taking on the role of Ginny Aimes, an optimistic teacher at Mason’s son’s school, while Davis will be playing a no-nonsense businesswoman named Camilla Nygaard.
An additional report by Deadline in January 2022 revealed that Sean Astin, the star of everything from The Goonies to Stranger Things Season 2, had joined the cast to play Sunny Gryce, Perry Mason’s new highly-successful client. Other new cast members include Tommy Dewey, Paul Raci, Jen Tullock, Jon Chaffin, and Onohoua Rodriguez, to name only a few.
Perry Mason Season 2 Will Center On A Murder Involving A Wealthy Oil Family
The first season of Perry Mason saw Matthew Rhys’ character attempting to get to the bottom of the kidnapping, and later mysterious death, of a young child whose eyes were stitched open postmortem. The second season will have a story in the same vein and will focus on the high-profile and brutally violent murder of the scion of one of Los Angeles’ most powerful and well-known oil families, HBO has announced.
Although the LAPD is convinced they have found the perpetrators in the most economically-depressed area of the “City of Angels,” Perry Mason and his team will set out to find who’s actually to blame, no matter what they uncover or who they anger in the process.
The Idea Of ‘Two Los Angeles’ And The Impact Of The Great Depression Will Be Expanded In Perry Mason Season 2
The first season of Perry Mason depicted a version of 1932 Los Angeles that was largely unaffected by the impact of the Great Depression, but it will be a completely different story when Season 2 picks up in March. When speaking with Esquire in December 2022, co-showrunner Michael Begler (who took over the show, alongside Jack Amiel, upon the departure of creators Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald), revealed that the show’s sophomore outing will be set in 1933, the worst year of the Great Depression in Los Angeles, especially for the more economically-depressed members of the population:
What struck us immediately was that this was the worst year of the depression in L.A. We really took that and ran with it, because of this whole idea of the two Los Angeleses—the glamorous money side of the city, but there's also a tremendous amount of poverty. There's all these Hoovervilles that are popping up. You saw that world in Season One, but we wanted to explore that even further.
The idea of a further exploration into 1930s Los Angeles is a win-win situation for the show, as the era was rife with imparity, corruption, and social unrest thanks in part to the lingering effects of the Great Depression and power-grabs like we saw in the 1974 mystery movie staple that was Chinatown.
The Perry Mason Season 2 Trailer Offers A Glimpse Into A New Murder In 1930s Los Angeles
The show’s version of 1930s Los Angeles is on full display in the Perry Mason Season 2 teaser trailer released by HBO in December 2022. Bouncing from one character to the next, the brief video fits a lot into its less than two-minute runtime, including setting up what will be the central mystery:
That major divide co-showrunner Michael Begler mentioned in his Esquire interview above is also on full display with depictions of lavish Hollywood parties one moment with the next filled with “Hoovervilles” on the outskirts of the city.
Expect to hear more about Perry Mason Season 2 as we get closer to its March 6, 2023 premiere date. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out our 2023 TV schedule so you don’t miss anything on the small screen this year.
