'Perry Mason' will see Matthew Rhys as a gritty low-rent detective with a dark past who focusses on truth
There have been many adaptations of Erle Stanley Gardner's 'Perry Mason', the infamous criminal defense lawyer who usually proves his clients' innocence during the trial by investigating into the case and even pushes the true perpetrator into confessing about the crime on the stand. After Raymond Burr in CBS' adaptation in the 1950s to 1960s, followed by Monte Markham in 'The New Perry Mason' which ran between 1973 to 1974, HBO's adaptation will star Matthew Rhys in the lead role. However, this version will not see Perry star as a lawyer but a private investigator according to the official character bio.
Set in 1931 Los Angeles, the show will see the city thriving with talking pictures, oil, Olympic games, and evangelical fervor while the rest of the country is battling the Great Depression. The case that Perry will be investigating in the show is a child kidnapping that has gone awry.
Originally Perry's secretary in the novels, Della Street will be portrayed by Juliet Rylance in the show. In the books, she is sharp, efficient, and fits the mold that audiences love -- someone with an intriguing relationship with their boss. After all, this generation has watched Donna and Harvey dance around each other over 8 seasons of 'Suits'. However, Perry and Della have a relationship that is more intellectual than romantic and can sometimes even be considered cold indifference at certain instances in a few series. In this show, however, she is the legal secretary of E. B. Jonathan who will be portrayed by John Lithgow.
According to HBO, E. B. Jonathan is a struggling attorney and a semi-regular employer of Perry Mason. A mentor and a father figure to Mason, E.B. is handed the kind of case he hasn’t seen in years: a high-profile parallel investigation to the LAPD involving a case of child kidnapping.
The dynamics between Perry and E.B. is revealed further in the trailer of the show that was released by HBO in May. In this, we see E.B. tell Perry that certain matters require finesse and discretion, which are things that he is good at. As a low-rent private investigator, his way of handling cases goes along with E.B.'s requirements and that is why their collaborations are expected to bring about success stories of cases well-represented.
The trailer also hints at how a child kidnapping case gone awry sees Perry struggle with conflicts that he has come to accept over the years as a detective. However, E.B. tells him that sometimes people have to do what they don't like for the greater good. In this case, it seems like a church might be implicated in the case and E.B. may be defending the case. As Perry's investigation progresses, he finds out that the case not only implicates the church but the cops as well and how he manages to find the truth with a target on his back is expected to be the crux of the story.
This version of Perry Mason is very different from the previous adaptations, but what is similar to the character in the book is how dark Perry is. Even in the books, what pushes the lawyer more than anything is to find the truth. In fact, it is also this that drives him. He goes above and beyond not to ensure his client's safety, but to find the truth. The former is a by-product of the latter and what makes the 80 plus books that follow the same formula interesting is the different avenues of investigation that Perry takes on.
'Perry Mason' will premiere on June 21 on HBO.