Chris Evans has recently wrapped up filming of his upcoming rom-com “Materialists,” which will be the sophomore film of Academy Award nominee Celine Song. And, while this isn’t the only upcoming project of the actor, it is one of his previous shows that is currently trending in the US: “Defending Jacob.”
The Apple TV+ miniseries, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by William Landay, is (as of June 9th) the eighth most-watched show on the platform in the US, per FlixPatrol. The show originally premiered in 2020, and it was created and written by Mark Bomback and directed by Morten Tyldum.
Apart from Evans, the rest of the cast includes Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, Cherry Jones, Pablo Schreiber, Betty Gabriel, Sakina Jaffrey and J.K. Simmons. Here’s what you need to know about this series, which received mostly positive reviews.
What to know about ‘Defending Jacob,’ the trending series on Apple TV+
The series follows assistant District Attorney Andy Barber (Evans) and his wife Laurie (Dockery), as they face the shocking accusation that their 14-year-old son Jacob might be a murderer. It garnered generally favorable reviews from critics, who commended the performances, especially those of Evans, Dockery, and Martell, as well as the show’s ambiguity.
However, some criticism was directed at its pacing, length, and ending. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 72% approval rating based on 61 reviews. For Evans, what drew him to the material was the exploration of guilt, as he is “fascinated” by it.
The actor told ThePlaylist.net back in 2020 that he is “fascinated by how you can bury it, you can silence it, but you always hear that echo. It changes you. It has its way with you.” He also described his character Any as someone who “has spent the majority of his life trying to muffle this guilt he feels,” and that he is affected by how his “son can feel the same type of guilt in a myriad of ways.”
Meanwhile, creator Mark Bomback told The Hollywood Reporter that his main focus wasn’t to answer the question of if the son did it or didn’t do it, but he was more interested in “trying to create for the viewer this very subjective experience of what his parents are going through.”
Defending Jacob is available to stream on Apple TV+.
