EXCLUSIVE: Season 1 Apple TV+’s legal thriller Presumed Innocent will compete in the Limited or Anthology Series categories at the 2025 Emmy Awards. The designation has been approved by the TV Academy, sources said.
It comes after Presumed Innocent was submitted as a drama series for the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, earning star Jake Gyllenhaal a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series, Drama. The show also is being featured in various drama category Emmy prognostications.
The reason for the switch is the evolution Presumed Innocent took over the last few months. The show started off as a limited series adaptation of Scott Turow’s bestselling novel of the same name with no blueprint for a second season.
When the Apple TV+ ordered a second season following the original installment’s breakout success, the initial idea was to follow The White Lotus model of a new story and largely new cast each season, with a character possibly crossing over, serving as connective tissue.
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With that in mind, Presumed Innocent was submitted as a drama series for the first wave of awards shows it was eligible for much like The White Lotus switched from limited to drama series after Season 1.
But with no obvious path to continue the series from Turow’s body of work, Season 2, executive produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams and Season 1 star Gyllenhaal and co-exec produced by Turow, eventually took a very different route. Apple TV+ and producing studio Warner Bros. TV acquired the rights to Dissection of a Murder, the upcoming debut legal thriller by Jo Murray, to serve as source material. It is a new case featuring all new characters, led by attorney Leila Reynolds, with casting currently under way.
Per the Emmy Awards rules & procedures for a series to be considered limited or anthology, “the story arc must be completely resolved within its season, with no on-going storyline and/or main characters in subsequent seasons.”
Starring Gyllenhaal in the lead role of chief deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich, the first installment of the anthology series focuses on the horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney’s office when one of its own is suspected of the crime.
The ensemble cast also includes Ruth Negga, who was nominated for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series at the Film Independent Spirit Awards where series are not separated by genre, Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel, Peter Sarsgaard, O-T Fagbenle and Renate Reinsve.
Presumed Innocent hails from Bad Robot Productions and David E. Kelley Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Season 1 was executive produced by Kelley, Abrams, Rachel Rusch Rich, Dustin Thomason, Matt Tinker, Gyllenhaal, Anne Sewitsky, Greg Yaitaines, and Sharr Whire. Miki Johnson and Turow served as co-executive producers.
While Presumed Innocent will make a switch at most awards shows from drama to limited series, it won’t have to do so at the WGA Awards. The writers guild follows their own guidelines, with the Apple show’s first season landing a WGA Award nomination for Limited Series earlier this year. In 2023, the award in that category was won by The White Lotus‘ second season, with the guild continuing to recognize the show as a limited series after it was moved to drama in all other major award races.