Back in August of 2016 it was announced that Robert Downey Jr.’s Team Downey was teaming up with HBO for a TV reboot of Perry Mason – a project that Downey was originally developing as a feature at Warner Bros. back in 2011.
Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour, HBO President Casey Bloys has now provided an update on the potential series, confirming that it remains in development but revealing that Downey will no longer star as the criminal defense lawyer.
“We developed two really good scripts, and we are talking about, is any actor that would be great for the role,” said Bloys. “There is a lot of interest from actors, we are thinking about who that might be.”
Despite dropping out of the title role, Downey remains attached as a producers alongside his wife and Team Downey partner Susan Downey, while the most recent draft of the script has been written by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald (Weeds, Friday Night Lights, Boardwalk Empire, The Exorcist), who replaced True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto following the announcement of a third season of the anthology crime drama.
Perry Mason was created by author Erle Stanley Gardner and has been adapted for film, TV and radio on numerous occasions, most notably the CBS TV series of the same name where the character was portrayed by Raymond Burr.
