Morris Chestnut is revealing what viewers can expect from the final five episodes of the second season of “Reasonable Doubt.”
The 55-year-old actor, who stars as high-powered defense attorney Corey Cash on the Hulu series, told theGrio exclusively that the final leg of the season will be filled with “twists and turns.” “Reasonable Doubt” follows Los Angeles defense attorney Jax Stewart (Emayatzy Corinealdi) as she takes on cases while juggling her sometimes complicated personal life.
In the most recently aired episode, titled “Primetime,” fans saw Jax’s friend and Corey’s client, Shanelle Tucker, unpack the beginning of her abusive relationship with her husband, J.T., who Shanelle is accused of murdering. The episode also featured Shanelle’s first televised interview from prison, the conclusion of Corey’s situationship with an established TV journalist, and teased a pregnancy that could impact the Stewart family.
That may seem like a lot of shocking storylines, but Chestnut says there is more on the way.
“We shoot a lot of things. I’m not sure how much is going to be in there, but there’s going to be a lot of twists and turns in the show,” the actor shares. “I think that’s one of the things that I realized while we were shooting the show. I didn’t know exactly how things were going to end, what was happening, and neither did any of the crew. We’re always trying to guess. I would say probably 95 to 98% of people were wrong about what’s happening, and I love that.”
“I love picking up those scripts, reading it for the episode, and saying, ‘Oh wow, what happened next?’ So, what can you expect? A lot of twists, a lot of turns, and things may not go as you may anticipate them.”
This season of “Reasonable Doubt” not only deals with Jax and Corey’s legal challenges, but it also gives viewers a close look at intimate partner violence and abuse within a relationship. The series shows how gaslighting, emotional manipulation, and escalating violence all contribute to the physical abuse that victims can experience. Chestnut’s Corey is an attorney who specializes in these cases, defending women who have acted in self-defense against their abusers.
The actor tells theGrio that he approached the role from a place of care and empathy for survivors of domestic violence.
“For me, personally, I always like to show some compassion to everything that I’m doing, depending upon what the role is,” Chestnut explains. “But for this, it’s something I draw on because it’s how I truly feel. I mean, it’s a very real issue that touches more people than we know because people don’t always talk about it. Particularly victims who are going through it, they’ll stay silent for a long time.”
Chestnut praises showrunner Raamla Mohamed, who he says is “putting [the issue of domestic violence] on a table.” He stresses how “Reasonable Doubt” displays the National Domestic Violence Hotline number (1-800-799-SAFE) and website at the end of each episode, offering victims who may be viewers of the show a way out of their circumstance.
“That was huge for me,” Chestnut says about the inclusion of the number. “I just have a genuine compassion for whoever has to go through this. I felt that it’s doing my part to help any way I could and sometimes that’s what art does. That’s the benefit sometimes of being an actor, of being on a show like this that can have some positive impact in someone’s life who could be having a tragic, negative experience.”
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While “Reasonable Doubt” may highlight some of the tragedies of life, it also shows the beauty of connection and friendship. Chestnut tells theGrio that he immediately felt welcomed when he joined the cast in season two.
“Raamla and Emayatzy are the leaders of that set and it is literally one of the best sets that I had ever been on,” Chestnut gushes. “Such a well run machine that they have there. I was excited. It was easy to find my footing. Being on a TV show and in production, you become like a family. You spend so much time with everyone there. [This cast] welcomed me in with open arms. Everyone was so nice and friendly. It was really just seamless for me to come in there and be a part of it.”
New episodes of “Reasonable Doubt” will stream on Hulu every Thursday through Oct. 17.
