With just two more episodes of Presumed Innocent left, the tension is getting unbearable. While we don’t yet know the result of the case, we do know that the show has been such a huge success that Apple has already greenlit a second season.
There’s no detail about the plot just yet – it will “unfold around a suspenseful, brand new case,” Apple TV Plus says – but all the key names are back on board: with David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams and Jake Gyllenhaal executive producing and author Scott Turow back in the writer’s chair. It’s currently unclear whether Gyllenhaal will appear on screen in the second season or if he’ll purely be an executive producer.
Deadline suggests that we should watch the season finale for clues: “Like other hit limited series that became drama series, including White Lotus and Shōgun, there likely will be character(s) who link the seasons”.
Presumed Innocent has been a huge Apple TV hit
The show has been attracting largely positive reviews. It’s currently sitting at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes with 81% from viewers; the main criticisms of the show have been that it’s perhaps been stretched a little too far, taking what was a two-hour movie and making it an eight-hour season. However many of the reviews are based on an incomplete viewing: for example the LA Times notes that it was given the first seven episodes to view, so the ending remains a mystery so far.
The penultimate and final episodes of Presumed Innocent season one are just days away: the penultimate episode will be streaming from July 17 and the finale will be available from July 24.
Apple says that season one of Presumed Innocent is Apple TV Plus’ most viewed drama of all time, eclipsing the Idris Elba drama Hijack, which also got renewed for a second season earlier this year. So a second season of Presumed Innocent isn’t a surprise.
It’ll be interesting to see what source material the second season may be based on. Scott Turow did write a sequel, the 2010 novel Innocent, which was adapted for TV starring Bill Pullman in 2011. But Turow also wrote the 1990 Burden of Proof as a sorta-sequel and set it in the same fictional Midwest location of Kindle County, Illinois. So a second season of the best Apple TV Plus show could be based on either, or on a mix of both.