Reasonable Doubt, Hulu’s twisty, steamy legal drama, returns for a third season of jaw-dropping moments both in and out of the courtroom. Emayatzy Corinealdi stars as high-powered L.A. criminal defense attorney Jax Stewart, whose brilliant but occasionally ethically questionable legal strategies win even the toughest of cases. When we last saw Jax, she had just freed her friend Shanelle (Shannon Kane) from prison. Season 3 picks up a year later, and she’s itching for a new challenge.
“She’s a little frustrated with the lack of excitement,” creator and showrunner Raamla Mohamed teases to TV Insider. “Some people say, ‘Oh, I don’t want any drama,’ and then it goes away, and then they’re like, ‘More drama, please!’”
“That’s what she thrives on,” Corinealdi agrees. “Even though someone else, looking in, would think, ‘You just had your husband’s mistress serve you papers. Is that not enough excitement?’”
She is referring, of course, to the closing moments of last season, when, after years of marital turmoil, love triangles, and broken promises, Jax and husband Lewis (McKinley Freeman) finally seemed to be settling into a new normal. Then, the doorbell rang, and they found out Toni (Tristan Cunningham) was suing them for the tragic death of her and Lewis’ premature son.
As a result, Corinealdi says, Jax and Lewis are left “trying to figure out exactly how to live in this new world, and what we need to do to close this chapter of our lives.” She’s hopeful they can finally break their long cycle of hurting one another. “They’ve been in therapy and they’re applying these tools to their marriage, and you get to see them actively working through things.”
With life at least relatively stable at home, Jax soon gets her wish for a shake-up in her professional life when she takes on the case of former child star Ozzie Edwards (Kyle Bary), who’s accused of killing his stylist girlfriend Wendy (Rumer Willis).
Corinealdi thinks Ozzie’s case will raise some tough questions about child stars moving into adulthood: “Are you accepted seriously or not? Do people still see you in this way? Then you have the dynamic of the behind-the-veil part of it with the parents of this child actor. Are they stealing money? Are they treating him as their child or just as a commodity?”
For Mohamed, the theme that unites Jax and Ozzie is knowing your worth: “With Ozzie, his worth has been quantified and exploited by his family members and other people around him. So does he, without the adulation, does he know who he is as a person, what his worth is?” Mohamed said.
Jax’s worth, meanwhile, isn’t always appreciated by the other partners (stodgy and all white) at her firm. And another up-and-comer is angling to join their ranks: Bill Sterling (Joseph Sikora, fresh off Power Book IV: Force) joins Jax on Ozzie’s case, taking on the role of the professional foil left empty by the departure of the charismatic Corey Cash (Morris Chestnut, who fans will be relieved to hear is at least back in a recurring capacity). But is Bill a friend or foe? It’s not so cut and dry.
“We talk about Jax code switching and how Black people in corporate America have to code switch,” Mohamed says. “But we see Bill doing the same thing, too, because he’s trying to play into the boys’ club, and he’s not this duplicitous person, but he is ambitious.”
That’s just one example of Reasonable Doubt‘s willingness to tackle nuance and moral ambiguity. The series examines even the toughest issues — including domestic violence, addiction, and child abuse — with great care, without ever denying the humanity at each person’s core. “You can’t preach to people and just give one side,” Mohamed explains. “Everyone has their own narrative that they believe. How are they the hero in their own story?”
Disney / Crystal Power
For the showrunner, presenting complex characters this way is “like putting a mirror up to people and having them think about, ‘Wait a minute. How do I move? What do I do? Do I have more empathy for this person because I’m seeing them as a well-rounded individual?’”
Jax herself is the most complex character of all, and Corinealdi wouldn’t have it any other way. “To get to play a full character, someone who’s three-dimensional and not just your stock character on TV, your stock TV lawyer. It’s really a gift to be able to play this woman who lives a full life, and is flawed, and all the things.”
“All the things” is what viewers will see in these new episodes. “This is my favorite season,” Mohamed promises. “It’s sexy, it’s soapy, but it’s also emotional in a different way than last season. But I do think that there are a lot of great characters and definitely more mystery this season for sure.”
Reasonable Doubt, Season 3 Premiere, Thursday, September 18, Hulu