Warning: Potential spoilers for the Presumed Innocent novel will be found below — you were warned 🙂
Jake Gyllenhaal is turning into the king of projects that were intended as one-offs or “limited series” into instant sequel material. That’s why the Road House reboot will receive a sequel on Prime Video/Amazon, and Apple TV+ recently decided to make the same move. Not only has Presumed Innocent received a renewal that will take it beyond the original source material (Scott Turow’s 1987 novel, which previously inspired a lone Harrison Ford movie), but the renewal has happened before the first season has even concluded.
In other words, viewers have not yet seen whether Jake’s accused-of-murder prosecutor, Rusty, will walk free or end up behind bars — a decision that will be made clear with the season finale arriving on July 24. Yet what was originally envisioned as an eight-part limited series will continue after Presumed Innocent became Apple TV+’s “most watched drama” series since the tech giant’s journey of streaming TV series launched in 2019.
Let’s get down to business on what could happen after the season finale.
Plot
A Scott Turow book (or books) exists that could provide plenty of material for a followup season, but first, it’s worth turning to Apple TV+’s press release, which understandably (since the season finale hasn’t aired yet) stays vague about a “brand new case” to be explored:
Following its widely acclaimed premiere last month, led by a gripping performance by Academy Award-nominated star and executive producer Jake Gyllenhaal, Apple TV+ today announced that its global hit series “Presumed Innocent” is set to return for a second season that will unfold around a suspenseful, brand new case.
A “new case” could mean several different directions, but assuming that the show ends in the same way as the movie, Rusty would in fact walk free from murder charges, and the murder of his colleague/affair partner, Carolyn, will (publicly) remain unsolved. The book also includes Rusty’s awareness that Rusty’s wife, Barbara, actually committed the murder, but there’s no guarantee that the show will go the same way.
What could be next? Apple TV+ could choose an option for the second season to follow Turow’s 2010 followup book, Innocent, which also revolves around Rusty and deputy prosector Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard in the first season) coming to legal blows again with the following book synopsis (and Rusty does have another affair, what a shocker) from Grand Central Publishing:
The sequel to the genre-defining, landmark bestseller Presumed Innocent, INNOCENT continues the story of Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto who are, once again, twenty years later, pitted against each other in a riveting psychological match after the mysterious death of Rusty’s wife.
The catch here is that Innocent picks up 20 years after the end of Presumed Innocent, so that presents some obvious difficulties with casting continuity. Of course, the timeline could always be bumped up, and if, however, they do choose to keep Gyllenhaal as an actor, a Redditor has suggested, “They could just pull a Criston Cole on Jake Gyllenhaal and just age up everyone around him.” As long as they have someone else say, “Nothing’s beneath me, I once f*cked an ottoman,” that option would be worth rolling with for laughs.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that Scott Turow does feature minor characters from Presumed Innocent in other books. So there are a variety of second-season options if the story continues that way, and within Turow’s entire library, literally dozens of books that could be tweaked for second-season material. Hopefully, viewers won’t have to wait forever for some clarity.
Gyllenhaal will definitely return as an executive producer alongside David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams, and Turow will be onboard as co-executive producer. Whatever happens here, a built-in audience of devoted book readers will be ready to drink in the continuation of this no-longer-limited series.
Cast
Apple TV+ hasn’t confirmed whether Gyllenhaal’s character will emerge in the second season, either as a main character (with the timeline set differently than the book) or in a supporting role. Actually, the whole topic of casting remains a mystery.
Release Date
This isn’t a special-effects laden series, although we shouldn’t expect a quick turnaround because the second season still (presumably) needs scripts. So, 2026 will possibly be when we see the series continue.
Trailer
Since no trailer exists yet, here’s a blast from the past with the Harrison Ford trailer of yesteryear.