“None of them knew for certain who the killer was until right before we shot the eighth episode, so that was the first shock,” admitted Anne Sewitsky, the executive producer and director of Apple TV+’s sizzling courtroom thriller, Presumed Innocent. Sewitsky, the Norwegian-American filmmaker whose previous endeavors include Monsterland and Black Mirror, directed the head-turning eighth and final episode of the season. The re-imagined tale, one of Apple TV+’s most-watched dramas, revolved around short-fused prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal), who becomes a prime suspect in the gritty murder of one of his colleagues (Renate Reinsve).
The series is based on Scott Turow’s bestselling 1987 novel, which was adapted into the 1990 film starring Harrison Ford. Sewitsky went on to say that Gyllenhaaland the rest of the cast were very surprised by the big reveal. Spoilers below:
The rest of this article contains spoilers for the finale of Presumed Innocent.In the finale episode, it was revealed that Rusty’s teenage daughter, Jaden (Infiniti), murdered Carolyn (Reinsve), Rusty’s colleague and the woman with whom he was having a heated affair.
That Shocking Twist
Presumed Innocent (2024)
4.5/5
It tells the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys’ office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The show stars Jake Gyllenhaal and is from legendary TV writer David E. Kelley.
- Release Date
- June 12, 2024
- Cast
- Jake Gyllenhaal , Ruth Negga , Bill Camp , Elizabeth Marvel , Renate Reinsve , Peter Sarsgaard , O-T Fagbenle , Chase Infiniti , Lily Rabe , Nana Mensah , Matthew Alan , Kingston Rumi Southwick
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- Apple TV+
- Directors
- Greg Yaitanes , Anne Sewitsky
“I don’t know if he was relieved or what,” Sewitsky told us, “but he felt the story made sense and he felt what he’d been acting made sense. We also put in extra scenes throughout the season that strengthened that [reveal], but in very small portions that we could kind of regulate later. And he’s [Gyllenhaal’s] also an EP on this, an executive producer on this, so it was a constant discussion, and he was very much on board.”
Instant fans of the series were taken through a bevy of twists across eight episodes — which makes sense, considering Emmy-winning director Greg Yaitanes (House of the Dragon) is also an EP here and directed several episodes. The character of Rusty is presented as a flawed and conflicted individual. A passionate one, too. He’s stunned by the news of Carolyn’s death and shocked that prosecutor Tommy Molto (Sarsgaard) goes after him. The big Jaden-Did-It reveal was a wild twist. (We learn that the teenager was in a disassociated rage state.)
Sewitsky further unpacked the final moments of the eighth episode, which found Rusty confronting his wife, Barbara (Negga) in their garage, telling her that he believed she killed Carolyn all along and that he had been covering for her the entire time. Insert: Shocked look on Barbara’s face. Wait for heartbeats to rise as we all believe SHE did it. But — wait for it! — suddenly Jaden (Infiniti) arrives in the doorway.
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Why Jake Gyllenhaal Was Nervous
“This was her first job ever in front of the screen,” Sewitsky said of Infiniti. “So, she had a long journey, both kind of being part of this family, being part of these other actors, and a huge learning curve. She’s amazing. When she found out that she also was the killer, we kind of tracked that backwards. And I think for Jake, it was the end of a long journey of playing quite a lot of different [emotional] things throughout.” She added:
“He was going to be a modern man. I wanted to see a lot of vulnerability [in his character].
I wanted to see him crying. I wanted to see him hurt. I wanted to see him angry with all this kind of aggression.
I wanted to see him as a loving family father. I wanted to see him as a husband. All those things, and same thing with Ruth [Negga]. Throughout the season, which I kind of set up in the first two episodes and through all the different theories and different directions that they had to go… the final episode became about concluding all the complexities into each role.”
“I think everyone was really nervous,” she went on to say. “Jake was really nervous. Last episodes are scary.”
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Why Jake Gyllenhaal Made the Director Cry
So are penultimate episodes, for that matter. Sewitsky also noted the powerful closing argument Rusty must deliver, defending himself. Gyllenhaal nailed the complex scene. “I remember the day we did his closing arguments, and it felt like he was taking the weight of the whole production in that speech,” she said. “We had kind of only two takes doing it completely through, that I had some close-ups and [we] planned very, very carefully that we would do two close-ups, one handheld, one on a Steadicam, and I knew that’s where I would get the best acting from Jake.
“But I was nervous,” she added. “After the first take I cried and just walked out. Because it was so amazing, and people were just quiet. And he did once more, and I cried again.” Presumed Innocent streams on Apple TV+. Watch it through the link below: