Matthew McConaughey Is Reprising One Of His Most Iconic Roles
Matthew McConaughey is set to reprise one of his most iconic roles, this time in a series that will pick up after the events of the movie
Matthew McConaughey has played a great many iconic roles over the years. Heck, the original role that put him onto the big screen is about as iconic as they come and it was only a bit part. But now he’s set to reprise the character that stepped him up from role player to leading man. That’s right, McConaughey is coming back to play Jake Tyler Brigance in A Time for Mercy, a series coming on HBO Max.
This new series on HBO is based on the John Grisham book of the same name and picks up in the time after the events of A Time to Kill. The original film and book followed the Brigand character as he represents a man for the murder of two men who had raped his young daughter. Matthew McConaughey played Brigand and was excellent in the film. It was a nail-biter throughout with the Brigand character dealing with the racial tensions around the court case; the man accused is black and the victims were white. The bayou feel of the film and the overall superb cast made for a very solid film that still holds up now.
In A Time for Mercy, Matthew McConaughey will apparently reprise the role of Brigance, this time defending a young man who has shot and killed his mother’s boyfriend. Whereas the book takes place only five years after the events of A Time to Kill, they will clearly have to alter the timeline some for the actor considering that film came out 25 years ago. At this point, there is little other information for the show. They haven’t assigned script duties and the series doesn’t appear to have a showrunner yet, though Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Doom: Annihilation, Shooter, Bumblebee) is on as an executive producer.
Of course, this won’t be the first turn for Matthew McConaughey on HBO. He played Rust Cohle in the first season of the network’s True Detective. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (both he and co-star Woody Harrelson were up). While television hasn’t been the place the actor has defaulted for roles, he crushed it when given the opportunity before. And his southern drawl and astute demeanor should play well in the courtroom once again.
Back in 1996, before he was a household name, Matthew McConaughey broke onto the scene with A Time to Kill. It featured an ensemble cast of Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashley Judd, Kevin Spacey, Oliver Platt, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Cooper among others. And yet, even with this all-star group with a ton of folks who were already well-established in Hollywood, McConaughey shone in his role.
Before he heads back to the Mississippi courtroom, Matthew McConaughey has a couple of other projects going. First off, he just launched his own YouTube channel which is going to the actor imparting his l-i-v-i-n wisdom on folks. And there are even some rumors that he’s considering a run for office in Texas sooner than later. So it’s not all work on the screen for the actor. But count us as excited to see him reprising this role.
