HBO has inked a three-year overall deal with writers and producers Jack Amiel and Michael Begler — who will become showrunners of Perry Mason as part of the pact.
Amiel and Begler, co-creators of Cinemax’s The Knick, will take the reins of Perry Mason from Ron Fitzgerald and Rolin Jones, who created the show and served as showrunners for its first season. Fitzgerald and Jones opted to move on to other projects.
Starring Matthew Rhys as the title character and based (loosely) on stories by Erle Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason is set in 1930s Los Angeles and features Mason not as a brilliant defense attorney, as in the 1957-66 CBS series that starred Raymond Burr, but as a down-on-his-luck private investigator. The first season centered on a case involving the death of a child and its connections to L.A.’s corridors of power.
The series performed well for HBO, with the premiere drawing the cabler’s largest first night audience (1.7 million viewers across all platforms) for a series debut in nearly two years. It eventually grew to more than 8 million viewers. Rhys earned Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations for his performance.
Amiel and Begler earned a Writers Guild Award nomination for their work on The Knick (along with Steven Katz), and the series won a Peabody Award in 2015. The duo’s writing credits also include features Big Miracle and Raising Helen.
Team Downey produces Perry Mason for HBO.
