HBO to Reboot ‘Perry Mason’

HBO will reboot classic legal drama “Perry Mason” as a limited series starring Mathhew Rhys (“The Americans”) as the defense attorney. Timothy Van Patten (“Boardwalk Empire”) will direct and executive produce.

The logline: “Perry Mason” is set in 1932, Los Angeles. While the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression, this city is booming! Oil! Olympic Games! Talking pictures! Evangelical fervor! And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong! When the case of the decade breaks down his door, Mason’s (Rhys) relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.

The original television series, starring Raymond Burr, aired on CBS from 1957 to 1966, and returned as a series of 30 made-for television movies on NBC from 1995 to 1995. A short-lived reboot called “The New Perry Mason,” which Monte Markham in the lead role, aired on CBS in the 1973-74 season.

Robert Downey, Jr. and Susan Downey will executive produce the upcoming reboot of “Perry Mason.”