According to Variety, Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal is currently in negotiations for the leading role in Apple TV+’s upcoming limited drama titled Presumed Innocent. Should the dead pushes through, this would mark Gyllenhaal’s first major scripted series since his television debut in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is based on Scott Turow’s 1987 novel which is being adapted by David E. Kelley, who will also serve as an executive producer and showrunner. The miniseries will feature Gyllenhaal playing a prosecutor named Rusty Sabich, who gets accused of killing his close colleague after evidence begins to point in his direction.
“It tells the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys’ office when one of its own is suspected of the crime, and explores obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together,” reads the synopsis.
The limited drama will be executive produced by Gyllenhaal, Turow, J.J. Abrams, Matthew Tinker, Rachel Rusch Rich, Dustin Thomason, Sharr White, and Miki Johnson. It hails from Warner Bros. Television, Bad Robot Productions, and David E. Kelley Productions. Before the Apple TV+ adaptation, the novel was first adapted into a film in 1990, which starred Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich.
