# Reasonable Doubt (TV series)

Reasonable Doubt is an American legal drama television series created by Raamla Mohamed for Hulu. The series stars Emayatzy Corinealdi as a corporate criminal defense lawyer navigating challenging high-profile cases. 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. It premiered on September 27, 2022. On April 17, 2023, it was renewed for a second season which premiered on August 22, 2024. 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
* McKinley Freeman as Lewis Stewart, Jax's husband
* Tim Jo as Daniel Kim, Jax's investigator
* Angela Grovey as Krystal Walters
* Thaddeus J. Mixson as Spenser Stewart, Jax's teenage son
* Aderinsola Olabode as Naima Stewart, Jax's tween daughter
* Michael Ealy as Damon Cooke, a previous client of Jax's recently released from prison (season 1; guest star season 2)
* Morris Chestnut as Corey Cash, a talented defense attorney Jax brings in to assist on a case (season 2)

### Recurring

* Sean Patrick Thomas as Brayden Miller, a billionaire and new client of Jax's (season 1)
* Pauletta Washington as Mama Lu, Jax's mother
* Christopher Cassarino as Rich Reed, a colleague of Jax's (season 1)
* Shannon Kane as Shanelle Tucker
* Perri Camper as Kaleesha Moore, a murder victim who accused Brayden Miller of sexual assault (season 1)
* Nefetari Spencer as Sally Braswell
* Tiffany Yvonne Cox as Autumn Owens
* Paul Fox as Theo James (season 1)
* Victor Rasuk as Mike Ortiz
* Brooke Lyons as Sarah Miller (season 1)
* Eugene Byrd as CJ Cooke, Damon's brother (season 1)
* Melissa Ponzio as Lucy Wargo (season 2)
* Vaughn W. Hebron as Adrian Hunter (season 2)
* Kandi Burruss as Eboni Phillips (season 2)
* Essence Atkins as Dr. Brandy Michaels (season 2)

## Episodes
### Series overview

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 9 | 9 | September 27, 2022 (2022-09-27) | November 15, 2022 (2022-11-15) |
| 2 | 10 | 10 | August 22, 2024 (2024-08-22) | October 17, 2024 (2024-10-17) |

### Season 1 (2022)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "Can't Knock the Hustle" | Kerry Washington | Raamla Mohamed | September 27, 2022 (2022-09-27) |
| 2 | 2 | "Family Feud" | Pete Chatmon | Resheida Brady | September 27, 2022 (2022-09-27) |
| 3 | 3 | "99 Problems" | Neema Barnette | Ryan Richmond & Loy A. Webb | October 4, 2022 (2022-10-04) |
| 4 | 4 | "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" | Darren Grant | Tash Gray | October 11, 2022 (2022-10-11) |
| 5 | 5 | "So Ambitious" | Sylvain White | Michelle Flowers & Jason Wilborn | October 18, 2022 (2022-10-18) |
| 6 | 6 | "Renegade" | Julie Dash | Loy A. Webb | October 25, 2022 (2022-10-25) |
| 7 | 7 | "N**** What, N**** Who" | Carl Seaton | Jason Wilborn | November 1, 2022 (2022-11-01) |
| 8 | 8 | "Song Cry" | Numa Perrier | Resheida Brady & Raamla Mohamed and Michelle Flowers & Natalia Temesgen | November 8, 2022 (2022-11-08) |
| 9 | 9 | "Already Home" | Pete Chatmon | Tash Gray & Ryan Richmond | November 15, 2022 (2022-11-15) |

### Season 2 (2024)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 10 | 1 | "Can I Live?" | Anton Cropper | Raamla Mohamed | August 22, 2024 (2024-08-22) |
| 11 | 2 | "Say Hello" | Pete Chatmon | Tash Gray | August 22, 2024 (2024-08-22) |
| 12 | 3 | "Part II (On the Run)" | Crystle Roberson Dorsey | Michelle Flowers | August 29, 2024 (2024-08-29) |
| 13 | 4 | "Primetime" | Julie Dash | Zahir McGhee | September 5, 2024 (2024-09-05) |
| 14 | 5 | "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" | Mo Marable | Loy A. Webb | September 12, 2024 (2024-09-12) |
| 15 | 6 | "This Can't Be Life" | Rob Hardy | Natalia Temesgen | September 19, 2024 (2024-09-19) |
| 16 | 7 | "Venus vs. Mars" | Anton Cropper | Ryan Richmond | September 26, 2024 (2024-09-26) |
| 17 | 8 | "Change the Game" | Numa Perrier | Anil K. Foreman | October 3, 2024 (2024-10-03) |
| 18 | 9 | "Who You Wit" | Geary McLeod | Resheida Brady | October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10) |
| 19 | 10 | "Encore" | Anton Cropper | Raamla Mohamed & Dallas Rico | October 17, 2024 (2024-10-17) |

## Production

The series was created by former Scandal writer Raamla Mohamed. It is loosely based on the experiences of celebrity attorney Shawn Holley, who is also a producer for the show. Reasonable Doubt was produced through the Walt Disney Television's Onyx Collective. Kerry Washington directed the series pilot. On April 17, 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season. Morris Chestnut joined the cast as a series regular for season 2. On November 13, 2024, the series was renewed for a third season.

## Release

The show premiered on September 27, 2022, on Hulu. The first season has nine episodes. The first episode aired on ABC on November 10, 2022. Internationally, the series is available on Disney+. The second season was released on August 22, 2024 with two episodes.

## 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. 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—25, 2024. 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 23–29, 2024, with 190.7 million minutes of watch time. TVision later announced that Reasonable Doubt was the twentieth most-streamed show during the week of September 23—29, 2024. Reasonable Doubt ranked No. 4 on Hulu's "Top 15 Today" list—a daily updated list of the platform's most-watched titles—on October 4, 2024.

### 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. Metacritic assigned the series a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
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." 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."
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." 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.

### Accolades

Kerry Washington won Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series at the 2023 Black Reel Awards for Television.