September 27, 2022 (2022-09-27) – present (present)
Reasonable Doubt is an American legal drama television series created by Raamla Mohamed for Hulu.[1] The series stars Emayatzy Corinealdi as a corporate criminal defense lawyer navigating challenging high-profile cases.[2] The series also stars McKinley Freeman, Tim Jo, Angela Grovey, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Aderinsola Olabode, and Michael Ealy. Reasonable Doubt is Onyx Collective's first scripted television series.[3] It premiered on September 27, 2022.[4] On April 17, 2023, it was renewed for a second season which premiered on August 22, 2024.[5][6] 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 up-scale 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
The series was created by former Scandal writer Raamla Mohamed.[11] It is loosely based on the experiences of celebrity attorney Shawn Holley, who is also a producer for the show.[12]Reasonable Doubt was produced through the Walt Disney Television's Onyx Collective.[13]Kerry Washington directed the series pilot.[14]
On April 17, 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season.[15]Morris Chestnut joined the cast as a series regular for season 2.[16]
On November 13, 2024, the series was renewed for a third season.[17]
Release
The show premiered on September 27, 2022, on Hulu. The first season has nine episodes.[18] The first episode aired on ABC on November 10, 2022.[19] Internationally, the series is available on Disney+.[20] The second season was released on August 22, 2024 with two episodes.[6]
Reception
Viewership
Reasonable Doubt had its pilot episode aired as a special on ABC on November 10, 2022. The episode attracted 1.8 million viewers and scored a 0.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic.[21] 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 to August 25, 2024.[22]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 – August 29, 2024, with 190.7 million minutes of watch time.[23] TVision later announced that Reasonable Doubt was the twentieth most-streamed show during the week of September 23 to 29, 2024.[24]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.80/10 based on 9 critic reviews.[25]Metacritic assigned the series a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[26]
Daniel D'Addario of Variety asserted, "Reasonable Doubt plays like the juicy soap Shonda Rhimes would never write; its excesses, often, grab and hold our attention."[27] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter 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."[28]
Nina Metz of Chicago Tribune 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."[29] Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly 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.[30]
