Even after a three-year hiatus, ratings for the first season of period crime drama Perry Mason have made the show one of this year's highly anticipated shows. Perry Mason is known for its well-executed storytelling and performances by actors that make something old-fashioned feel new again. In fact, the show could have been HBO's highest-viewed series to date in terms of total viewers if not for the success of The Last Of Us.
Prior to the premiere of Perry Mason Season 2, it was announced that showrunners Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald had left the series and were replaced by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler. The series still has Emmy-winner Matthew Rhys in the protagonist's role of the 1933 Los Angeles detective turned criminal defence lawyer Perry Mason -- a character first created by author Erle Stanley Gardner. His novels have been adapted into motion pictures and TV series countless times before.
The story picks up a few months after the events of Perry Mason Season 1. The show begins to take shape as a classic Perry Mason courtroom drama with Mason in the throes of the Los Angeles legal system during the height of the Great Depression. Alongside assistant Della Street (Juliet Rylance) and hardboiled ex-cop Paul Drake (Chris Chalk), the former PI garners a reputation for taking on clients that few would dare to defend. Months after the Dodson trial shook the city, Mason is readjusting to life as a civil attorney when a high-profile murder case brings him back into the fold. As the district attorney homes in on a pair of brothers from Hooverville, Mason is thrust into the centre of a vast conspiracy and forced to reckon with what it truly means to be guilty.
As we're now halfway through the second season and gearing towards the finale, HBO recently hosted an online conference where Life took part in an interview session where Welsh actor Matthew Rhys discussed what happens in the latest season. He also recalled his first reaction to taking on a Perry Mason remake.
What was it like working with showrunners Jack Amiel and Michael Begler this season? And did that affect the production and filming?
No, I don't think it affected production in any way. They came in with their own ideas of what they wanted to do. And I suppose it's always the big question of what are they going to do with Season 2. So that kind of influx by its own volition did exactly that. They also had the same hopes in that they wanted to start the second season with something different. They just bought fresh eyes and fresh blood.
I hear that you were a fan of the original Perry Mason series growing up. Did you have any trepidation about taking on such an iconic character?
Well, when the project first came to me, my concern was that they were going to try and remake Perry Mason. And I thought that was a terrible idea. But it was quickly explained to me by Team Downey [executive producers Susan and Robert Downey Jr] that the whole point is to reimagine Perry Mason. They explained who Mason was going to be -- the big, rich backstory of him. It was about the war, his family farm, and a number of things that shaped him up until that moment. So, I was very intrigued.
Can you talk about your character arc in Season 2? What are some of the transitions of Mason from the last season into this one?
I think coming back on any show with a second season is very difficult from when you started. What's great about this is they've kind of changed his character a bit. They set him up in the first season as someone who has all these problems but has a very clear idea of right and wrong. And then when he sees this injustice, he goes, 'I'm going to do something about it'. And then in Season 2, Mason has a big crisis of faith about who he is, and why he should be doing what he's doing. We find him struggling with imposter syndrome.
The show seems to focus on the way he's struggled with his demons. Is that true?
Yes, but they've presented a new set of demons which Mason now has to deal with in real-time because it's a very new set of rules he is living with. He's thrust into this position he didn't really think through in Season 1 and now the kind of repercussions are collapsing around him and he's kind of realising, you know, the ramifications of what he does now are enormous. People's lives are in his hands. This is a lot heavier and far more complex than he thought. He thought it was a very set of linear rules, but actually, there's a whole game and facade to play within.
Obviously, with this new version of Perry Mason, he's very intense and quite an emotionally draining character to play. I'm wondering what it was like for you to play this role?
I think I was born that way to be perfectly honest [laughs]. I've never struggled with the on/off switch. As an actor, I think everything they've loaded for the Mason character I find interesting because you're kind of juggling a number of elements at any one time which is incredibly interesting.
While there's so much happening in the new season, what do you think is the main focus at the heart of this new story?
I think what the whole season really is about is the justice system and how you are treated differently, how society treats different people differently within the justice system, and how frightening that can be if you're not one of the more respected people in the community. It's also about how poverty or skin colour affects how you are treated within the system. He is now six months in and has become a lawyer in a system completely opposed to the way he thinks. This new system is a great challenge for him, and we see him undertake it over eight episodes.
