Matthew McConaughey is set to make his return as defense attorney Jake Brigance in a TV series sequel of A Time to Kill. The 1996 film was adapted for the big screen by the late Joel Schumacher and was based on the first novel by best-selling author John Grisham. Originally released in 1989, Grisham’s Brigance character has since appeared in two other novels.
The story involves Brigance’s efforts to land a not-guilty verdict for his client, Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), a Black man accused of murder. Frustrated by the very real possibility that the two white men who beat, raped, and nearly killed his young daughter will likely not be found guilty of their crimes, Hailey takes matters into his own hands and murders them. The subsequent trial is an uphill battle filled with racial tension, but Brigance remains undeterred and Hailey is ultimately found not guilty. The film was a big hit at the box-office when it arrived, drawing in over $152 million on a $40 million budget. It also kickstarted McConaughey’s career, while featuring a cast that included Sandra Bullock, Kiefer Sutherland, Ashley Judd, Donald Sutherland, and Kevin Spacey.
Now, 25 years after the film’s release, Deadline has reported that HBO is developing a limited series based on Grisham’s 2020 sequel novel, A Time For Mercy. At present, McConaughey is reportedly in final negotiations to return to the role of Brigance for the series. This time around, the Mississippi defense attorney is called on to defend a sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. The case draws the ire of the local community, many of whom want the boy sentenced to death. But Brigance sees more to the case than meets the eye. The new series is expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to ten episodes in length and has yet to announce a release date.
Though A Time to Kill received generally positive reviews upon its release, there were also those who objected to the film’s depiction of vigilantism. The world was a very different place in 1996, however, and today a TV series based around the idea of defending an accused cop-killer will likely be divisive in a way that A Time to Kill never was. This being said, with the issue of police brutality what it currently is, and McConaughey’s strong fanbase well beyond what it was in 1996, A Time For Mercy seems like a natural fit for a hit TV series. At the very least, the limited series will spark further debate about justice and the police.
As previously mentioned, however, the current political and social climate is very different from what it was in 1996. Back then, the notion of white savior stories wasn’t as readily called out, despite A Time to Kill clearly being guilty of the concept. Hopefully, A Time For Mercy will offer more diversity than what was seen in A Time to Kill, but in many ways, HBO has an uphill battle on its hands as it delves into a series that is sure to be rife with controversy.
Source: Deadline
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