Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason returns in new mini-series for HBO

Perry Mason series The next detective-mystery crime series from HBO is going to be a bit different for fans of the 1950s-60s television series and even the original novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Moodier, darker, and grimier, HBO’s Perry Mason is coming to the cable network with an eight-episode season in only 60 days from now. The first trailer has arrived with the look of The Untouchables and LA Confidential, and the lead lawyer looking more like Columbo than Raymond Burr’s neat and pressed professional.

HBO’s Perry Mason retells the early days of the character, set in an ugly Los Angeles of 1931. It stars Matthew Rhys (The Post, Columbo) as Gardner’s well-known criminal defense attorney who appeared in 80 novels, mostly following a similar pro forma framework of detective work. The show will feature a list of familiar faces that will be sure to get HBO subscribers to check it out. That includes Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), John Lithgow (Harry and the Hendersons), Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), and Lili Taylor (Say Anything). A flock of producers for the production includes Robert Downey, Jr. (Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man, Chaplin), and it’s directed by Timothy Van Patten (The Sopranos) and Deniz Gamze Ergüven (The Handmaid’s Tale), with cinematography by Darran Tiernan (Star Trek Picard), and costume design by Emma Potter (Creed).