While it may not have seemed like a juggernaut when it first premiered, Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent has turned into one of the streamer’s biggest hits of the year. Apple has announced that the series is their most-watched drama of all time, which may explain why a second season is already in the works.
The series is adapted from a novel of the same name by Scott Turow which was first turned into a movie, and tells the story of a prosecutor who finds himself accused of murder, and has to work to keep his life and family together in light of the allegations. Now that the first season has wrapped up its run, many want to know what season 2 will hold and when it might premiere. Here’s what we know:
What is the release date for Presumed Innocent season 2?
No release date has been announced for the second season yet, but given that the first season just concluded its run in July of 2024, it’s safe to say we won’t see a second season until sometime in 2025 at the earliest.
Given the protracted timelines for many series these days, it’s possible that the wait could be even longer. After all, a new season has to be written and cast, and then they have to go through production and editing. Severance, another hugely popular Apple show, originally premiered in 2022 and won’t be back on the air until 2025. Here’s hoping the Presumed Innocent cap is not that long.
What is the plot of Presumed Innocent season 2?
The show’s second season is presumably still being written, and it’s unclear how it may be connected to the first season. In the finale for season 1, we learn who actually killed Carolyn, and the reveal is not at all what you might have expected. Rusty is found not guilty at his trial and comes home to accuse his wife, Barbara, of committing the murder. She adamantly denies that she had anything to do with it, but Rusty says that he knows it was her because he put a tracker on her car.
That’s when their daughter, Jaden, enters the room and confesses to the murder. The family is devastated and left to pick up the pieces in the case’s aftermath.
Season 2 is set to follow an entirely different case, but it’s unclear whether any of the show’s existing cast will return in some capacity. Jake Gyllenhaal is unlikely to lead the show’s second season, but he could appear briefly to connect the two cases.
In building toward a second season, the writers could choose to adapt one of Turow’s follow-up novels. He released The Burden of Proof a few years after Presumed Innocent. That novel follows Sandy Stern in the aftermath of the events of the first book. The novel follows Sandy as he learns more about his wife after her death. The only issue with this route is that Sandy isn’t actually a character in the show. Instead, Rusty’s defense attorney is named Mya, so it’s possible that season 2 could follow her as she moves to a new case.
The other option for a second season could come from Turow’s 2011 sequel novel Innocent, which follows Rusty and Peter Sarsgaard’s Tommy Molto 20 years later as the story turns to the mysterious death of Rusty’s wife. If they went that direction, they would likely recast both central roles.
It’s also possible that the show diverges from Turow completely, and creates an entirely original story that has many of the same preoccupations as the first season had.
Is there a trailer for season 2 of Presumed Innocent?
There is no trailer for the second season yet, and plenty of creative decisions still have to be made about season 2 before we will get one. We don’t even know who will be in the cast or what the story will be focused on.
Who is in the cast of Presumed Innocent season 2?
The cast for the new season has not yet been announced, but it feels safe to say that it will be largely new. Gyllenhaal is unlikely to return to his central role, at least as the main character, and many of the supporting players will likely be different as well. There may be some connective tissue from the first season, but most of the characters in a second season will be played by entirely new actors.
What we do know, though, is that a lot of the behind the scenes talent will be back for the second season. J.J. Abrams, Rachel Rusch Rich, Dustin Thomason, and Matthew Tinker will be back as executive producers, and creator David E. Kelley and author Scott Turow will also serve in that role.
