Jax Stewart is known to be the most brilliant and fearless defense attorney in Los Angeles who bucks the justice system at every chance she gets; she’s judged for her questionable ethics and wild interpretations of the law until she’s needed.
The series features an all Black writing team and each episode was directed by Black directors. The show’s title and each episode title is inspired by Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt and his discography. The show also features contemporary and classic hip-hop, R&B, and neo-soul artists. The series’ music is composed by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (“Luke Cage”). Reasonable Doubt is created, written, and executive produced by Raamla Mohamed. Kerry Washington directs and executive produces alongside Pilar Savone for Simpson Street and Larry Wilmore via Wilmore Films. Shawn Holley and Jon Leshay serve as co-executive producers. The series is the first scripted drama from Onyx Collective and is produced by ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios.
We chatted with the cast to get all of the behind the scenes action and of course to hear what it was like to work with the amazing Kerry Washington.
The Knockturnal: What was the first phone call like when you got asked to do the show?
Victor Rasuk: Thankfully I had known Kerry Washington for so many years back in the day because we were both from New York and I think that she’d always wanted to do something together again. She called me personally and she was like, “I got this part, it’s great,” and I was like, “yes,” before she even said anything. I was like, “yes, I want to do something. It’s been too long since we worked together,” and that was like what the phone call was. It was like two friends wanting to work together again.
Sean Patrick Thomas: I didn’t have it quite as easy as Victor did, even though I know Kerry, but no. It was a great opportunity to hook back up with Kerry again. Kerry allowed me to have a chance to have long conversations with Raamla Mohamed and Larry Wilmore to try to figure it out and see if it was a good fit. When I got the opportunity, when I got the call to do it, obviously I just felt enormous gratitude because I’ve always wanted to work with Kerry again and it was a perfect opportunity to do it with an amazing script and with an incredible character to play. It just all lined up perfectly.
Tim Jo: Well for me, I had just taken a part-time job and the job required me to have a guitar, and I didn’t own a guitar so I was on the road to go buy a guitar on Craigslist and on the car ride there they were saying, “what are you doing?” I’m like, “buying a guitar for my job.” They said, “well you can pay for that guitar because you booked the job.”
McKinley Freeman: For me, I was in Wilmington, North Carolina working and I’d actually just flew across the country to do an in person chemistry test with Emayatzy and then flew right back to go back to work. Then a couple days later they were like, “congratulations, you booked the part.” I think the cool part about it for me was — just as Sean and Michael and Victor and everyone that said it so many times — to be a part of a crew of talented people that are sincerely interested in making the best show possible and are willing to put in work. We don’t even get to see each other all the time, but when we do, it’s like we just saw each other last night, so it’s like, it’s a very, very much-needed family environment in a business where that’s not necessarily the case when you show up every day.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 23: (L-R) J. Lawrence, Victor Rasuk, Sean Patrick Thomas, OJ Williams, Tim Jo and McKinley Freeman attend the Reasonable Doubt Atlanta Tastemaker Event Sponsored by Los Angeles Times and BESLA at Four Seasons Hotel on October 23, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Derek White/Getty Images for Disney/Onyx Collective)
The Knockturnal: With such a powerful woman (Kerry Washington) at the helm, talk a little bit about that and her leadership throughout this project.
Sean Patrick Thomas: What I value most about having Kerry at the helm is that I trust her. I trust her 100%. I trust her taste. I trust her instincts. I trust her integrity. I trust her character. She has brilliant, qualified, experienced people of color and women in front of and behind the camera and she’s always been a big public advocate for that. To see her actually put it into practice where she has the power is something that I find thrilling to watch. I have mad respect for Kerry, just on that level alone, completely separate from her artistry.
The Knockturnal: I’m sure out of everyone you’ve probably known her the longest.
Sean Patrick Thomas: Yeah. I mean, she’s been consistently a high quality, high character person and that’s always been the person that I’ve known. It’s in her work. It’s in the way she treats people. It’s in her priorities. It’s across the board. I’m just proud to know her and still be in the game with her.
The Knockturnal: You mentioned Emayatzy, such a wonderful, amazing actress. Talk about working with her and your guys’ onset dynamic.
McKinley Freeman: Well, Emayatzy Corinealdi is amazing. As a talent, I’m very excited for the world to see how talented she is. I mean, she moves effortlessly through all these different situations and circumstances and then on top of being a phenomenal, talented actress, she’s just an incredible mother that had her daughter on set, was feeding her daughter, and raising her daughter at the same time. She was doing it all. She did everything for this job and just going back to what Sean and Victor were saying about Kerry — the thing that I appreciate about Kerry is it doesn’t matter who you are, you can learn a lot about someone by how they treat people when they don’t need something from that person. No matter who it was that I saw Kerry interacting with, she was the same person and I have so much respect for that.
Tim Jo: I mean, working with Emayatzy… First of all, I have a tendency to get a little long winded when we’re in the cast chairs sharing stories, and I remember I was just blabbing about life or something with Angela who plays Crystal, and then Emayatzy was like, “well, hold on, hold on, let me share my testimony too.” Then once we all started just sharing our stories together, we just connected as humans. That was my first interaction with Emayatzy, but secondly, when you’re a number one on the show, it comes with a gigantic responsibility. You’re not only the face of the show, but your hours are multiple times what everyone else is working and if you’re in a good mood, then the set’s in a good mood. There’s an incredible amount of responsibility that lies on the shoulders of number one. Sort of like McKinley was saying, not only was she extremely generous, open, and kind, she was a mother at the same time. She was being a mother while in between scenes and sometimes during lunch break she’d be outside Double Dutching with the crew. When you have somebody that’s leading a show with joy and excellence and craft, you better recognize that and step in line because you’re working. It has a whole new level when you’re working for and supporting people like Emayatzy.
The Knockturnal: Why should we all watch Reasonable Doubt?
Sean Patrick Thomas: Oh, everybody should watch this show because everybody should support Black excellence. That’s why everybody should watch this show.
