Warning: This article contains spoilers for Presumed Innocent.
Summary
Presumed Innocentstar and executive producer Jake Gyllenhaal reacts to that killer reveal, offering perspective on the process that went into it. At the end of the Apple TV+ original, Rusty Sabich (Gyllenhaal) is found not guilty of the murder of Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve). However, in thefinal minutes ofPresumed Innocentseason 1, Rusty’s daughter Jaden (played by Chase Infiniti) confesses that she was the one who killed his father’s pregnant mistress. It is a shocking twist that those familiar with the source material couldn’t even predict.
In an interview withThe Wrap, Gyllenhaal reacted to the ending ofPresumed Innocentand confessed that he hadno idea who Carolyn’s murderer was going to be. It seems the creative team kept their options open for numerous possibilities. The actor, who executive produces the Apple TV+ show with David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams, jokes in the quote below that everyone was a suspect at one point:
What’s interesting is that we were all in it [as potential suspects]. So as an actor, you’re psychologically in the journey that you’re in, and then all of a sudden, your fate is laid out for you. I knew that there were a number of different potential things. And we were all talking about different ideas. But I don’t think I could have ever suspected what it is.
At a certain point, everybody [in the cast] wasn’t sure if it was them [who killed Carolyn].
Does The Presumed Innocent Ending Go Far Enough?
The TV Adaptation Departs From The Book
It’s worth noting thatPresumed Innocentbreaks away from the Scott Turrow novel of the same name, which it adapts. In the novel, it’s Rusty’s wife who is guilty of the murder. The Apple TV+ show seems headed in this direction too, with Rusty confessing that he tampered with Carolyn’s murder scene after the fact and staged it to protect his wife Barbara (Ruth Negga). For her part, Barbara is horrified by this.
Presumed Innocentwas also adapted into a 1990 movie, with Harrison Ford as Rusty, which matches the book’s ending.
Giving one of the best performances ofthePresumed Innocentcast, Negga keeps Barbara’s terrified expression when Jaden confesses to the murder and Rusty embraces her. It’s an understandable impulse for each character. Still, the Apple TV+ series, which is the streamer’s most-watched to date, could have gone even further in underlining the corrosive Sabich family dynamics by including Rusty’s son Kyle (Kingston Rumi Southwick). It would have been a stronger point, albeit still muddled, about how far the family went to save something that was clearly broken.
That sentiment shines through in the finale’s last scene. The Sabich family is enjoying a meal all together, with Rusty and Barbara sharing what seems to be a smile. It gestures at a larger point, though that point is perhaps less powerful than it could be, because the scene that reveals Jaden as the killer doesn’t feel quite earned and credible. Still, asPresumed Innocentseason 2is confirmed, it is an interesting effort to break away from the source material.
Presumed Innocent
Cast
An eight-episode limited series based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name by Scott Turow. Starring Gyllenhaal in the lead role of chief deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich, the series takes viewers on a gripping journey through the horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney’s office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The series explores obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.
