Perry Mason Season 2: How Robert Downey Jr Led Showrunners To Brooks McCutcheon
The second season of "Perry Mason" has taken a decidedly different tack from Season 1 of the HBO series. The legal thriller and crime mystery reimagining of Matthew Rhys' titular character may have justifiably defended an innocent woman in the first batch of episodes, but Season 2 put a twist on the formula by revealing that the men he's defending are actually guilty.
Of course, there's naturally more to it than that, as "Perry Mason" Season 2 has veered toward what drove Rafael (Fabrizio Guido) and Mateo Gallardo (Peter Mendoza) to accept the hit job on Brooks McCutcheon (Tommy Dewey) and who the money man is behind the killing. However, when it comes to what motivated much of the development of the latest season of "Perry Mason," the source is a somewhat unexpected one: Robert Downey Jr., who was originally set to star in the series and serves as an executive producer, along with his wife Susan Downey and Michael Begler.
Begler explained Downey Jr.'s involvement in Season 2 of the series to CBR. "One of the first conversations that we had with Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell of Team Downey, Robert Downey, Jr. sort of 'Zoom-bombed' it and came in," Begler recalled. "He started talking about things that he liked from the era, and he said one word that stuck with us, which was 'oil.' That opened things up."
Robert Downey Jr. helped point Season 2 to where it ended up
Given how deep Robert Downey Jr.'s roots go in the entertainment industry (his dad, Robert Downey Sr., was a veteran actor-writer-director), it makes perfect sense that he'd have so much to offer when it comes to the stories that helped to make Los Angeles the city that it is.
Michael Begler went on to explain how Downey Jr.'s suggestion helped to pave the way for Season 2 of "Perry Mason." "It's one of those things you don't think about with Los Angeles, and when you start to do the research and look at the pictures, there was just this forest of oil derricks," Begler said. "There's so much wealth that we don't even understand in this city."
The "Perry Mason" executive producer is hitting on something pretty pivotal here, as old money from legacy business ventures like oil still provides the means for the wealthy to pull strings even today. Expounding on this corruption was part of the point, as Begler pointed out that the season was about "this idea of justice, does it exist and who does it exist for?" With the second season of "Perry Mason" set to wrap up soon, fans can perhaps look forward to finding out the answers to these questions and more.