HBO has announced plans to add a few more recurring characters to its second season of Perry Mason. According to Deadline, Stranger Things’ Sean Astin, Sound of Metal’s Paul Raci, Pivoting’s Tommy Dewey, and Disengaged’s Jen Tullock will join lead, Matthew Rhys (The Americans), in the period sequel drama series. First-season star Shea Whigham (Homecoming) will also return as Pete Strickland.
Perry Mason follows the iconic TV lawyer, originally played by Raymond Burr (Ironside), decades before he was the ace defense attorney in the courtroom. While season one saw Mason’s incidental transition from bumbling PI to tackling his first criminal case, season two will see him embrace his new professionalism as he and his two partners, Juliet Rylance’s (The Knick) Della and Chris Chalk’s (Detroit) Paul, redirect to the safer grounds of civil cases. But it isn’t long until another mystery lands on his desk that will challenge his belief in everything.
According to Deadline, the second season will be set during the nadir of the Great Depression, where the road to the American Dream has been paved with nails and broken glass. Astin will be Perry’s newest client, Sunny Gryce. The epitome of the term “pull up your own bootstraps,” Gryce is the proud owner of a grocery store in strong competition with another.
Higher up on the economic spectrum is the McCutcheones, a wealthy family sitting atop the fruits of oil. Raci will play the father, Lydell, who has masterfully crafted his riches for decades. The patriarch has little faith in his son, Dewey’s Brooks, to take over the family business one day, which puts the father and son at odds.
Finally, Tullock will play Anita St. Pierre, a rare businesswoman making moves as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Her ambition and wit will make an impressionable mark on Della in more ways than one.
Whigham will return as Perry’s friend, Pete, but his new position with the District Attorney’s office will rearrange the former partners on the opposite sides of the law. Deadline reports the rest of the cast includes Mark O’Brien (City on a Hill), Eric Lange (Brand New Cherry Flavor), Jee Young Han (Superstore), Fabrizio Guido (Black as Night), Diarra Kilpatrick (Nash Bridges), Justin Kirk (APB), Peter Mendoza (Parasites), Hope Davis (Your Honor), Katherine Waterson (Alien: Covenant), Onahoua Rodriguez (The Shield), and Jon Chaffin (BMF).
Included in HBO’s 2022 premiere video a month ago, Perry Mason is set to return later this year.