Perry Mason EPs Break Down Perry’s Surprising Fate in the Finale — Plus, Plans for a Potential Season 3?

TVLINE | Perry ends up in prison for hiding the murder weapon, which shows just how far he would go to protect his clients. What made you decide to end the season with your main character behind bars?
BEGLER | Early on, Lydell says to Perry: “Even when you win, you lose.” And I think we loved turning that around by the end of the season, saying: Even though Perry sort of loses, he wins. Winning means that he understands what it means to fight now, and what it takes, and that imposter syndrome that exists at the beginning [of the season] is pretty much gone at the end, and he can hold his head high. He can put up that picture of him and his son. It’s almost a way to showcase: This is who I need to show what real justice is, what real morality is. I think he believes it in his heart, and I think that was what was really appealing to us. When we start the season, he’s a green lawyer. He’s still really brand new. So we couldn’t go like full-throttle on him into the Perry Mason that everybody expects, and so I think it’s taking this season to get there, which was important.

TVLINE | It seems like the schoolteacher, Ginny Aimes, is going to wait for him. Is she a long-term love interest for Perry? Could we see her maybe in a Season 3?
BURRELL | We love the chemistry between Katherine [Waterston] and Matthew [Rhys]. It’s really unique. And we loved that you see her as a schoolteacher, and then you realize she’s definitely got an interesting darkness in her own right, [which is] why she’s attracted to Perry Mason.

DOWNEY | It’s interesting: We talk a lot with Matthew about whether Perry could ever be domesticated at all. More than whether we’re rooting for him and Ginny, it’s always looking at what’s going to be best for that character, even as we push him to evolve. There’s a real messiness to him at his core. There’s a real trauma to him at his core, which makes him excellent at what he does — but probably not the best partner.

TVLINE | Della turned Camilla Nygaard over to the federal authorities, and we know how rich and powerful she is. So is that a move that could come back to haunt Della and Perry down the road?
BEGLER | I think it leaves the door open. You know, I think we’ll never see Lydell again. He’s fled to Japan, and I don’t think he’s ever going to come stateside again. But we like to leave a little bit of light coming through the door because, yeah, she’s a Big Bad, and you never know what she’s capable of.

DOWNEY | I do think that Camilla certainly has the power to avoid any major repercussions.

TVLINE | Paul Drake kind of seemed like he was saying goodbye to Perry at the end there. Is their partnership over?
BEGLER | I wouldn’t say it’s over. In a third season, I think we would just want to see it evolve. Paul may not be full-time working for Perry anymore because he may be down in his section of town more, helping out. But it doesn’t mean that they won’t cross paths, because I think they have so much respect for one another, especially through this season. Perry can still respect him, even though Paul wants to move on, and Paul can respect Perry for the moves that he’s made.

BURRELL | I think we spend a lot of time thinking about how much Paul actually needs Perry. You know, Paul is his own man, and he has a family and a deep connection, and he has his own deep, deep sense of self. So I think in so many ways, Perry needs Paul, and so I think we’re just going to always be in that situation where they’re kind of finding their partnership.

DOWNEY | Yeah, we’re not saying goodbye. At all. I think there’s a wonderful, natural tension that exists in Paul figuring out who he is in the world, figuring out how comfortable he is in Perry’s world, and Perry always wanting to do right by him, but then the reality of the times and all of that. I think that we can continue to figure that out as we dig deeper into Paul’s life outside of just specifically the case or specifically Perry. But look: Perry, Paul, Della, that’s our trio.

TVLINE | This season had an interesting construction to it, because we find out midway through the season that the Gallardos did kill Brooks. But Perry defends them in court anyway while trying to find out who hired them to pull the trigger. So what led you to essentially reveal whodunit midway through the season?
BEGLER | I think early on, we were really interested in this idea of, when you think of Perry Mason, you think of: He’s the man who defends the everyman, defends the innocent. And we’re like: What happens when they’re not innocent? How difficult does that become? And especially this character, this version of him, this guy who has been through so much with his trauma through the war and the haunting of Emily Dodson, and he doesn’t think he even has the ability to do this, to make it as hard as possible. We thought that was a really interesting way to go.

BURRELL | Honestly, when the showrunners brought that idea to us, it was so deeply inspiring, instantly. We all felt like it was really right. Because I think it really allowed us to explore how the justice system is not black and white, how it’s actually really about not whether someone did something wrong or made a bad choice, but then why — what the context is. So it really presented this opportunity of not having it all be about who did it, but it’s really about why. We had actually in Season 1 spent a lot of time talking about how that’s really what our series is: the why, not the who.

DOWNEY | I also think that to have it simply another case where the client of Perry’s wasn’t guilty, or at least not guilty of the crime they were being accused of — like with Emily, she was guilty of plenty of things, but not that crime — that would have felt like a repetition. So it was very exciting when Jack and Michael came with this idea… [Perry] became a lawyer rather easily. He’s got obviously a lot of raw skill, but to have to defend somebody that he discovers is guilty is a whole new set of challenges for him that he didn’t face in the first season, and it was important to get to that new place for him, to see how he would deal with it.

BURRELL | Yeah, because righteousness could have driven him. If they’re not guilty, it’s so easy to just absorb it and say, “I’m just doing good. I’m a righteous character.” The fact that they’re guilty actually forced him to reckon with the choice that he made to be a lawyer. “OK, now you actually have to do it.” Della is very clear about that, which we also loved, that it presents this great conflict for them. And Paul understood the context in a deeper way. So it felt like the right thing to force that larger examination.

TVLINE | There’s no official word yet on a Season 3, but are you hearing any whispers? And do you already have some plans in mind, just in case?
BEGLER | Look, I’ve been thinking about a Season 3 since they called wrap. Even before that. I would love the opportunity. I think that there’s so much story to tell with these characters. I think we just started to tell the story with these characters. So yeah, I have lots of stories that I’m thinking on. But it’s not up to us, unfortunately. It’s up to the gods at HBO. I think we’ll know sooner than later, and hopefully, we will get to continue.

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