Fans of HBO’s Perry Mason waited a long time for Season 2 to arrive, as Season 1 premiered back in June 2020, and the renewal announcement came a month later. Well, after over two and a half years, Perry Mason Season 2 finally debuted, reuniting audiences with Matthew Rhys’ title character and allies like Juliet Rylance’s Della Street and Chris Chalk’s Paul Drake. Season 2 also saw Jack Amiel and Michael Begler taking over as the showrunners following the departure of creators Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald. While speaking with CinemaBlend, Chalk explained how the long wait for Season 2 and the big behind-the-scenes change, plus real world tragedies that have happened during Perry Mason’s run, affected how he handled his character.
First off, given that the wait between Perry Mason Seasons 1 and 2 was fairly lengthy by TV standards, I asked Chris Chalk (who’s also know for playing Lucius Fox on Gotham) if the hiatus affected his ability to get back into the character of Paul Drake when it came time to return to the show, or if that didn’t factor in. Chalk shared that not only was it the former for him on a personal level, but for everyone who worked on the show, saying:
