SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of Your Honor Season 2.
Bryan Cranston clarified the comments he made on Dax Shepard’s recent Armchair Expert podcast ruling out a third season for Your Honor, saying they might have been misconstrued. The actor told Deadline’s Lynette Rice at Contenders TV Sunday that Showtime is interested in a third season, but he might not appear in it.
“My comment was I’m not sure that there could be or there is,” Cranston said. “There is some discussion. Showtime has indicated there is interest and we’re very proud to know that every episode in Season 2 increased in the audience from the previous week. If it happens, fantastic but it’d have to be some great reason to keep expanding in this world and to find out where the allegiances are. I’d be very interested in producing that. I don’t know about being in it because my guy’s back in prison.”
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That there was even a second season came as a bit of a surprise. Creator Peter Moffat originally conceived Your Honor as a single season show. Cranston plays Judge Michael Desiato, who went to great lengths to cover up his son, Adam’s (Hunter Doohan)’s hit and run accident.
Adam died in the season finale. Cranston said he would only return if Season 3 truly explored a father grieving the loss of his son.
“I said, ‘This guy, if this really happened and you lost a child, it changes your life forever. So if you really want to show a man in abject despair, if there is any possibility of a life beyond that, let’s do it. But it has to be incrementally discovered,’” Cranston said. “[Showtime] were willing to do that.”
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In the second season, Assistant U.S. Attorney Olivia Delmont (Rosie Perez) takes Michael out of prison to help them bust the Baxter crime family. Perez drew on research she did with law enforcement professionals.
“They said, ‘Sometimes you can develop an attachment to someone in that position. You have to always remember they committed a crime, they haven’t finished paying their debt to society and they are just a tool,’” Perez said. “As we progress, she gets frustrated with him. She gets a kick out of him but she tries to keep it close and tries to stay professional.”
Hope Davis plays Gina Baxter, the wife of mobster Jimmy. Davis said Gina is equally hostile to Michael and Jimmy.
“I want [Michael] to stay away from my family,” Davis said. “And I want my husband to stay the hell away from me. I don’t like my husband, I don’t like him. I like my children. Those are the people that I like.”
Season 2 also boosted recurring Andrene Ward-Hammond to a series regular as Ninth Ward gang leader Big Mo.
“It was a progression of just wanting a little more,” Ward-Hammond said. “Mo wanted a little more love, she wanted a little more money. Just calmness in our world of chaos.”
Both seasons of Your Honor are streaming on Showtime.
Check back Tuesday for the panel video.
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