Apple TV Plus swaps Harrison Ford for Jake Gyllenhaal in its Presumed Innocent series

The book that became a huge 1990s blockbuster returns as a brand new series on Apple TV Plus

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Harrison Ford’s footsteps are hard to fill, but Jake Gyllenhaal clearly isn’t afraid to give it a go: he’s the star and executive producer ofApple TV Plus' upcoming seriesPresumed Innocent, a remake of the Ford-starring 1990 courtroom drama based on the Scott Turow bestseller of the same name.

This time around it’s an eight-part series rather than a two-hour movie, and the star-studded cast includes Ruth Negga, Bill Camp, O-T Fagbenle, Chase Infiniti, Nana Mensah, Renate Reinsve, Peter Sarsgaard, Kingston Rumi Southwick and ElizabethMarvel.

The book, movie and show all tell the same story. In Chicago, chief deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Gyllenhaal) is accused of a horrific murder – an accusation that could destroy his family, his career and his life. As Sabich battles to clear his name, the series explores themes of sex, politics, power and obsession.

Is Presumed Innocent presumed to be good?

I think so. The book was great, the movie was pretty good and the trailer suggests that the show captures the claustrophobic, paranoid vibe very well – and of course Gyllenhaal is a fine actor, as are his fellow cast members. The show is being made by Bad Robot alongside David E Kelley Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Kelley created or produced tons of big-name shows includingChicago Hope, Boston Legal, Ally McBeal, Big Little Liesand a pilot ofThe Lincoln Lawyeramong many more, so clearly we’re in safe hands here even if Rusty Sabich isn’t.

What made the film so good, and whatAppleseems to be focusing on here, was the courtroom scenes. AsThe Philadelphia Enquirerput it, “at least on the surface,Presumed Innocentunfolds in the grand tradition of great courtroom drama. But nothing inPresumed Innocentis what it seems”.

The courtroom scenes in the film are very tense, and there are plenty of twists, shock reveals and other key moments in Scott Turow’s story to make you jump up from the couch; theLA Timescalled the movie “intelligent, complex and enthralling”.

Hopefully expanding the story to eight episodes won’t overstretch things: the pre-court scenes in the book and film were a bit of a slow burn, but there’s slow and then there’s sloooooooooooow. Fingers crossed this isn’t the latter. For now,Presumed Innocentis presumed awesome.

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Presumed Innocentwill be streaming on Apple TV Plus from June 12.

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.

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