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Perry Mason (2020)

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HBO’s new Perry Mason series is set to premiere this weekend, marking a hero’s return to television. This new Perry Mason stars actor Matthew Rhys and imagines the titular character in a time before he was revered as one of the best defense attorneys in Los Angeles. HBO’s Perry Mason is a gritty reinterpretation of one of the most beloved crime dramas from the Golden Age of Television.

While the original Perry Mason followed a tried and true procedural format, the new HBO series is veering in a different direction. This Perry Mason is a down-on-his-luck private eye whose work causes him to question the ethics of the very institutions trusted to maintain law and order in Depression-era California. The case that just about breaks our hero? A complicated murder mystery including a botched kidnapping, a trendy evangelical church, and corruption within the police force.

But who was the original Perry Mason and where can you watch the classic Perry Mason in 2020? Here’s a newbie’s guide to all things Perry Mason.

Raymond Burr as Perry Mason — Photo: Everett Collection

WHO IS PERRY MASON?

Perry Mason is a character who was created by crime fiction author Erle Stanley Gardiner. Mason is a defense attorney with a penchant for proving his clients’ innocence and coaxing confessions out of the true culprits. Within the original Perry Mason mythos, he has a professional friendship with private investigator Paul Drake and shares a flirtation with his secretary Della Street. The character inspired a series of 1930s films, 1940 radios shows, and most famously a 1957 TV series that starred Raymund Burr in the title role.

WHO IS THE NEW PERRY MASON? MATTHEW RHYS

HBO’s new Perry Mason series stars Welsh actor Matthew Rhys in the titular role. Rhys is perhaps best-known for starring in FX’s The Americans opposite now wife Keri Russell, but he’s got a lot more on his filmography than just that. Recently, he’s starred in films like A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, The Post, and The Report. He has also starred in TV series such as Brothers & Sisters, Death Comes to Pemberley, and The Wine Show.