‘Perry Mason’ HBO TV Series Rounds Up Big Cast With John Lithgow, Tatiana Maslany, Juliet Rylance & More

The upcoming “Perry Mason” detective drama series, which comes from Robert Downey Jr.’s production house, has rounded up a big cast list. Set in 1930s Los Angeles, the limited series will star Matthew Rhys as the titular character.

A batch of actors has been recently cast to work alongside Rhys in “Perry Mason” for HBO. These are Juliet Rylance, Andrew Howard, Eric Lange, Robert Patrick and Stephen Root, per Deadline.  They will be boarding the show that has already cast John Lithgow in a significant role, as well as Tatiana Maslany, Shea Whingham, Chris Chalk, Gaye Rankin, Nate Corddry, Lili Taylor, Jefferson Mays and Veronica Falcon, per Coming Soon.

Lithgow will play Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan, the lawyer who is Perry Mason’s mentor. Maslany will portray Sister Alice, the leader of the Radiant Assembly of God, which yields great power in the city.

Rylance will play Della Street, E.B.’s brainy legal secretary. Howard is Detective Ennis while Lange will play Detective Holcomb, two LAPD homicide detectives who do not regard proper procedure. Patrick will play Herman Baggerly, who hires E.B. and Perry on the case along with the LAPD investigations.

Root is Maynard Barnes, a district attorney. Chalke is Paul Drake, the beat cop who likes doing detective work on the side. Whingham is Pete Strickland who helps Perry with his investigations.

“Perry Mason” was developed by “True Detective” creator Nic Pizzolatto for Team Downey productions. Downey was supposed to star as the lead character but decided to take executive producer role and hand the part to Rhys.

The series is based on Erle Stanley Gardner’s novels with co-writing adaptation by Rolin Jones and Ron Fritzgerald. The two also serve as the showrunners. Tim Van Patten, who has worked on “Game of Thrones” and “The Sopranos,” will direct the limited series.

“Perry Mason” was earlier adapted as a TV show on CBS from 1957 to 1966.