Published May 17, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel.
Apple TV has an eight-episode crime thriller series that fans of Mindhunter and Sharp Objects will love. One of the younger streaming services, Apple TV, has, in the past few years, really upped its game when it comes to original content, moving on from the years of See, Servant, and Little America for shows with a bit more staying power.
There have even been some Apple Original shows to crack the level of television that used to only be the domain of HBO and Netflix on occasion. Those two streamers have long been the places to go for prestige series and/or pop culture phenomena. Mindhunter and Sharp Objects represent some of the best that the two have to offer.
Apple TV has a series in a similar vein, Presumed Innocent, a 2024 legal thriller based on Scott Turow's 1987 novel of the same name, which was previously adapted into a film in 1990 with Harrison Ford and Brian Dennehy. The TV adaptation stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor who becomes a suspect in the murder of his colleague, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve).
Rusty had been having an affair with Carolyn up until the day she was murdered, and the evidence begins to stack up against him. Broken family ties, media scrutiny, and intense grief threaten to collapse Rusty's life and even send him to jail. It's a thrilling legal drama with some fantastic performances at the center.
Presumed Innocent has a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy nominations for Gyllenhaal, Bill Camp, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ruth Negga. It's one of the best dramas on Apple TV, and with another season on the way, it's a great time to jump in and check it out.
How Presumed Innocent Stands Out From Other Crime Shows
Presumed Innocent has the difficult duty of trying to both adapt a classic crime novel, but also improve upon a beloved film from the '90s. The series doesn't quite reach the heights of the Ford film, but is still an extremely entertaining, brilliantly acted limited series. It's efficient, smart, and keeps you guessing throughout.
Unlike some other popular crime shows, Presumed Innocent takes its time getting to know each character and ensures the audience is aware of how everyone figures into the plot. It's this grounding that makes the audience feel close to everyone, and unsure of which direction we want the show to go in.
Presumed Innocent takes viewers deep into the confines of an attorney's office and lays bare the politicking and complex logical conundrums that the lawyers have to unfurl. It's both interested in the procedure of the story, as well as the emotions, combining for a breathtakingly real story of deceit and murder.
What's Next For Presumed Innocent
While Presumed Innocent season 1 has a complete ending with a satisfying finale, the series was quickly renewed for a second season only a month after the show finished airing. The second season will cover a completely different case, adapting a book from a different author, Jo Murray's Dissection of a Murder, which only debuted in May 2026.
The novel centers on Leila Reynolds, a character yet to be cast, who is a young lawyer offered a murder case despite being new to the profession. Complicating matters is her husband, who is serving as the prosecutor. We'll have to wait and see if this anthology-style storytelling will pay off for Presumed Innocent and Apple TV.
Release Date 2024 - 2023
Directors Greg Yaitanes, Anne Sewitsky
Writers David E. Kelley
English (US) ·