Matthew Rhys Joins Presumed Innocent Season 2 Cast—Here’s Who He’s Playing Opposite Rachel Brosnahan

Presumed Innocent is back in session, and it just added a ringer: Matthew Rhys is joining Rachel Brosnahan and Jack Reynor for season 2 on Apple TV+. The twist this time is genuinely interesting: the new season is built on an as-yet-unpublished novel. Yes, they are adapting a book you cannot read yet. Inside baseball, but also kind of a flex.

What season 2 is pulling from

Apple is basing the new run on 'Dissection of a Murder' by Jo Murray, which is due out next year. Apple is keeping the official series logline quiet, but the novel centers on a young defense attorney, Leila Reynolds, who gets tossed a career-making (and possibly career-ending) case: the murder of a widely respected judge. She is in over her head. The accused, Jack Millman, won’t hear of anyone else representing him. He wants her, specifically. Why? That’s the hook.

Who is playing who

• Rachel Brosnahan is the defense attorney.
• Matthew Rhys is her husband — and the prosecutor on the very same case.
• Jack Reynor is her client.

Quick refresher on season 1

The first season adapted Scott Turow’s 1987 bestseller and starred Jake Gyllenhaal as a prosecutor who winds up the prime suspect in the murder of a colleague he was sleeping with. It was designed as a one-and-done miniseries, but the show clicked with audiences enough that Apple went ahead and ordered another round.

'Presumed Innocent is an excellent drama designed for adults that does not try to be a psychosexual thriller or a procedural mystery but incorporates elements of both in an engaging and emotionally powerful story.'

That was from Alex Maidy’s review, which also pointed out how the show leaned into character over pulp — very David E. Kelley in the best way.

Meanwhile, Rhys is busy

Before he trades objections with Brosnahan, Rhys turns up opposite Claire Danes in Netflix’s mystery series 'The Beast in Me' on November 13. Danes plays Aggie Wiggs, a celebrated author who retreats from public life after the death of her young son. When a notorious real estate magnate, Nile Jarvis (Rhys), moves in next door — a man once suspected in his wife’s disappearance — Aggie becomes fixated. It’s a grief-fueled cat-and-mouse that might get dangerous.

Also on his slate: 'Hallow Road,' a psychological thriller with Rosamund Pike and director Babak Anvari, heading to theaters this fall.