Perry Mason Has Been Canceled At HBO After Two Seasons

The streaming era has claimed yet another victim and, sadly, no altruistic lawyers will be riding to its defense this time. In a deeply unfortunate (but not altogether surprising) development, HBO has chosen not to renew the acclaimed "Perry Mason" detective series for a third season. The news comes courtesy of Deadline, marking the end of the network's prestige-minded attempts to reboot the popular IP with a much darker and more film noir bend. The results had been received mostly positively, with /Film's Chris Evangelista's most recent review of the second season indicating that "Perry Mason' season 2 is slick and stylish and unapologetically aimed at adults. It's also a show without much room to grow — this feels like more of an ending than a new beginning. But if 'Perry Mason' should step back into a courtroom for a third season, I'll be there."

Unfortunately, that no longer appears to be in the cards for the Matthew Rhys-starring show. In a statement, HBO had this to say about the cancellation:

"We are tremendously grateful for the remarkable work of Matthew Rhys and the unrivaled cast and crew of 'Perry Mason' for their reimagining of such a treasured and storied franchise. While we won't be moving forward with another season of the series, we are excited to continue working with the brilliant creatives at Team Downey on future projects."

Those "future projects" include "The Sympathizer," which recently created some buzz with its trailer showing Robert Downey, Jr. portraying multiple characters in an adaptation of author Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning book. But unfortunately for fans of Rhys' deeply morose Perry, Juliet Rylance's wonderfully layered Della Street, and Chris Chalk's relentless cop-turned-private-investigator Paul Drake, this is the end of the line for "Perry Mason." 

Is anybody else getting tired of the trend where even the most high-profile and acclaimed adult-oriented shows end up on the chopping block after only one or two seasons? Historically, that is partly due to the economics of networks and streamers having a contractual obligation to significantly increase pay for cast and crew with each new season. (Hmm, it's almost like that's one of the most hot-button issues at the forefront of the ongoing WGA strike!) But for the purposes of us viewers, the bottom line is we keep getting robbed of quality storytelling and compelling shows that simply never received a chance to actually cultivate and grow their viewership.

It feels like an especially bitter pill to swallow after how "Perry Mason" leaves things in season 2, with Perry sacrificing his own freedom for the sake of a heart-wrenching case and ending up in jail for a brief stint. The satisfying but relatively open-ended finale left plenty of room for the creative team to take things to another level in a potential season 3, which the producers admitted they were already thinking about. Instead, the legal series is now in a state of limbo as it awaits an expectedly strong run at awards season later this year. Could another network swoop in and save the series? Those who've watched Rhys' brilliant performance as the dogged lawyer since the show premiered in 2020 know that, with "Perry Mason," nothing would be more fitting than some last-minute salvation just when all hope seemed lost.

But for now, fans can only fondly remember all the highs of one of the best and most well-written shows to air in recent years.