''Reasonable Doubt'' is an American

legal drama Legal drama, also called courtroom drama, is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in wh ...

television series created by

Raamla Mohamed Raamla Mohamed is an American television writer known for her work on ''Little Fires Everywhere'' and ''Scandal''. She is the creator and showrunner of the Hulu legal drama ''Reasonable Doubt.'' Biography Mohamed was born and raised in Los A ...

for

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

. The series stars Emayatzy Corinealdi as a corporate

criminal defense In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ...

lawyer navigating challenging high-profile cases. The series also stars McKinley Freeman, Tim Jo, Angela Grovey, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Aderinsola Olabode, and

Michael Ealy Michael David Brown (born August 3, 1973), known professionally as Michael Ealy, is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Barbershop'' (2002), '' 2 Fast 2 Furious'' (2003), '' Takers'' (2010), '' Think Like a Man'' (2012), '' Abou ...

. ''Reasonable Doubt'' is

Onyx Collective Onyx Collective is a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment, which primarily consists of projects from creators of color and other underrepresented groups. The brand was first launched on May 17, 2021, with several projects un ...

's first scripted television series.' It premiered on September 27, 2022. On April 17, 2023, it was renewed for a second season which premiered on August 22, 2024. The series generally received positive reviews from critics. In November 2024, the series was renewed for a third season.

Plot

Jax Stewart is a successful criminal defense lawyer at an upscale Los Angeles law firm. She navigates difficult cases amid a separation from her husband and the reappearance of a former client she worked with in her previous job as a public defender.

Cast

Main

* Emayatzy Corinealdi as Jacqueline "Jax" Stewart (née Nicholas), a defense lawyer, and mother of two children currently separated from her husband, Lewis *

McKinley Freeman McKinley Freeman (born June 9, 1976) is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films and on television series, including the starring role of Derek Roman in the drama series '' Hit the Floor'', portraying the role of Dominic in the OWN ...

as Lewis Stewart, Jax's husband * Tim Jo as Daniel Kim, Jax's investigator * Angela Grovey as Krystal Walters * Thaddeus J. Mixson as Spenser Stewart, Jax's teenage son * Aderinsola Olabode as Naima Stewart, Jax's tween daughter *

as Damon Cooke, a previous client of Jax's recently released from prison (season 1; guest star season 2) *

Morris Chestnut Morris Lamont Chestnut (born January 1, 1969) is an American actor. He first came to prominence for his role as Ricky in the 1991 film ''Boyz n the Hood''. He has appeared in feature films such as ''G.I. Jane'', ''The Brothers (2001 film), The B ...

as Corey Cash, a talented defense attorney Jax brings in to assist on a case (season 2)

Recurring

Sean Patrick Thomas Sean Patrick Thomas is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Derek Reynolds in the 2001 film '' Save the Last Dance'' and as Jimmy James in '' Barbershop'' (2002), '' Barbershop 2: Back in Business'' (2004), and '' Barbershop: The N ...

as Brayden Miller, a billionaire and new client of Jax's (season 1) * Pauletta Washington as Mama Lu, Jax's mother * Christopher Cassarino as Rich Reed, a colleague of Jax's (season 1) * Shannon Kane as Shanelle Tucker * Perri Camper as Kaleesha Moore, a murder victim who accused Brayden Miller of sexual assault (season 1) * Nefetari Spencer as Sally Braswell * Tiffany Yvonne Cox as Autumn Owens * Paul Fox as Theo James (season 1) *

Victor Rasuk Victor Rasuk (born January 15, 1984) is an American actor. Early life Rasuk grew up in New York City. He is the son of Dominican parents. His mother worked as a seamstress, and his father at an auto shop. He has one brother, actor Silvestre Rasu ...

as Mike Ortiz *

Brooke Lyons Brooke Ashley Lyons (born November 8, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Amy in the 2008 film ''Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins'' and as Peach Landis in the CBS sitcom ''2 Broke Girls''. Early life and education Lyons was bo ...

as Sarah Miller (season 1) *

Eugene Byrd Eugene Byrd (born August 28, 1975) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Wink in ''8 Mile (film), 8 Mile'' and List of Bones characters#Clark Edison, Dr. Clark Edison on the Fox Broadcasting Company, FOX series ''Bones (TV series ...

as CJ Cooke, Damon's brother (season 1) *

Melissa Ponzio Melissa Ponzio is an American actress, best known for her roles as Melissa McCall on '' Teen Wolf'' and Karen on '' The Walking Dead''. Ponzio has also starred in '' Chicago Fire'' as Donna Robbins-Boden. Life and career As of the late 1990s, ...

as Lucy Wargo (season 2) * Vaughn W. Hebron as Adrian Hunter (season 2) *

Kandi Burruss Kandi Burruss (born May 17, 1976), known professionally by her mononym Kandi, is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She first gained notice in 1992 as a member of the multi-platinum R&B female vocal group Xscape ...

as Eboni Phillips (season 2) *

Essence Atkins Essence Uhura Atkins (born February 7, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career appearing on television sitcoms, before her regular role on the African-American prime-time drama '' Under One Roof'' (CBS, 1995). Atkins is best known for ...

as Dr. Brandy Michaels (season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2022)

Season 2 (2024)

Production

The series was created by former ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

'' writer

. It is loosely based on the experiences of celebrity attorney

Shawn Holley Shawn Katherine Chapman Holley is an American defense attorney. Early life and education Holley was raised in Los Angeles. Her mother was a legal secretary who earned an M.B.A. through night classes and became the manager of a prestigious ...

, who is also a producer for the show. ''Reasonable Doubt'' was produced through the

Walt Disney Television The first and original incarnation of Walt Disney Television was an American production company and the original/former television production division of the Walt Disney Company, which was active from April 18, 1983 to 2003. Productions from ...

Kerry Washington Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fil ...

directed the series pilot. On April 17, 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season.

joined the cast as a series regular for season 2. On November 13, 2024, the series was renewed for a third season.

Release

The show premiered on September 27, 2022, on

. The first season has nine episodes. The first episode aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

on November 10, 2022. Internationally, the series is available on Disney+. The second season was released on August 22, 2024 with two episodes.

Reception

Viewership

''Reasonable Doubt'' had its pilot episode aired as a special on

on November 10, 2022. The episode attracted 1.8 million viewers and scored a 0.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. TVision, which utilizes its TVision Power Score to evaluate CTV programming performance by factoring in viewership and engagement across over 1,000 apps and incorporating four key metrics—viewer attention time, total program time available for the season, program reach, and app reach—calculated that ''Reasonable Doubt'' was the fourth most-streamed series from August 19—25, 2024. Luminate, which measures streaming performance by analyzing viewership data, audience engagement metrics, and content reach across various platforms, calculated that it was the tenth most-streamed streaming original series during the week of August 23–29, 2024, with 190.7 million minutes of watch time. TVision later announced that ''Reasonable Doubt'' was the twentieth most-streamed show during the week of September 23—29, 2024. ''Reasonable Doubt'' ranked No. 4 on

's "Top 15 Today" list—a daily updated list of the platform's most-watched titles—on October 4, 2024.

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.80/10 based on 9 critics' reviews for season one.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the series a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Daniel D'Addario of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' asserted, "''Reasonable Doubt'' plays like the juicy soap Shonda Rhimes would never write; its excesses, often, grab and hold our attention." Angie Han of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' praised Emayatzy Corinealdi's performance, saying, "Corinealdi is lots of fun to watch as Jax, and she's blessed with scripts that allow her to embody multitudes," and wrote, "''Reasonable Doubt'' serves up plenty of the juicy thrills and emotional dilemmas that wine-soaked group chats were made for." Nina Metz of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' gave the series a grade of 3 out of 4 stars and said, "There's a lot to like about "Reasonable Doubt," which is sharp and fun and moves at a good clip. And it's smart about keeping things ''just'' this side of ridiculous." Kristen Baldwin of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the show a B+, stating, "''Reasonable Doubt'' is enjoyably Shonda-esque, in that it's a steamy, speed-plotted soap built around a morally ambiguous female power player whose life is filled with ridiculously attractive men. But Mohamed also weaves in frank and nuanced stories about marriage, parenting, and the importance of (and challenges with) female friendships," and complimented Corinealdi's performance.

Accolades

Kerry Washington won Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series at the 2024

Black Reel Awards for Television The Black Reel TV Awards (TV BRA) is an annual American awards ceremony presented by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize artistic and technical merit of African-Americans and the African diaspor ...

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* {{Hulu 2022 American television series debuts 2020s American black television series 2020s American legal drama television series American English-language television shows Television shows set in Los Angeles Television series by ABC Studios African-American television Hulu original programming Onyx Collective original programming