Matthew McConaughey will star in an adaptation of the John Grisham novel series “A Time for Mercy”, which is currently in development on HBO, Variety learned from the sources.
The book, published in 2020, is a continuation of Grisham’s books “A Time to Kill” and “Sycamore Row”, all centered on the character of lawyer Jake Brigance. McConaughey previously starred as Brigance in the 1996 film adaptation of “A Time to Kill”. The role was an early escape for McConaughey, starring alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock.
In “A Time to Kill”, Brigance defends a black man (Jackson) who killed the two whites who violently raped his daughter. In “A Time for Mercy”, Brigance must defend a young man who killed his mother’s boyfriend, a deputy sheriff, with the boy claiming that the man was abusive to his mother, himself and his younger sister.
According to sources, no writer is currently hired to adapt the book, but Lorenzo Di Bonaventura is on board as an executive producer. Warner Bros. Television would produce.
HBO and WBTV declined to comment.
McConaughey is no stranger to the HBO audience, having received an Emmy nomination for his participation in the first successful season of the premium cabler’s police drama “True Detective”. He won the Oscar for best actor for his role in the movie “Dallas Buyers Club” in 2013. He is also known for his roles in films like “Dazed and Confused”, “Magic Mike”, “Interstellar” and “Amistad.” was previously scheduled to form a new team with the creator of “True Detective”, Nic Pizzolatto, for a series on FX, but this project is no longer advancing.
McConaughey is represented by WME and Morris Yorn.
“A Time to Kill” was Grisham’s first novel, but not the first to be adapted for the screens, being “The Firm”, starring Tom Cruise. Since then, almost a dozen of his books have been adapted for films, including “The Pelican Brief”, “Runaway Jury” and “The Chamber”.