USA Network has found its next legal dramaby way of the 1995John Grishamnovel,The Rainmaker. This will be the second interpretation of the novelfollowing the 1997 film of the samename that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starred Matt Damon, Mickey Rourke, Jon Voight, Claire Daines, and Danny DeVito. This will mark USA’sfirst new scripted drama in quite sometime following the success of shows likeSuitsandWhite Collar, both of which ended in 2019 and 2014 respectively,but have found new life on Netflix.
As perVariety,The Rainmakercomes from Michael Seitzman and Jason Richman, who have been tryingto get the project off the ground for a number of years. While it was expected to land at Hulu/ABC as partof a larger “Grisham Universe,“the initiative never moved forward, and Seitzman tookThe Rainmakerto Blumhouse Television, who have a deal with Lionsgate to reimagine a number of the studios’ properties. As such,Jason Blum will serve as produceron the new series along with Seitzman, Richman, author John Grisham, and David Gernert. Check out the synopsis forThe Rainmakerbelow.
“Fresh out of law school, Rudy Baylor goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond as well as his law school girlfriend. Rudy, along with his boss and her disheveled paralegal, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.”
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Based on the description, it seems the new serieswill deviate from the plot of the original film and the novel, both of which envisioned the character of Rudy Baylor as a single man who falls in lovewith battered wife, Kelly Riker, and whodid not have a girlfriend in law school. In addition to that small change, it seems the gender of his boss is also changing, as before it was ambulance chaser J. Lyman “Bruiser” Stone,but in the small screen adaptation ofThe Rainmakerit will be a woman. How these small, cosmetic differences affect the overall story remains to be seen.
The USA Network Only Has One Scripted Series Right Now
Previouslythe home of destination televisionwith scripted dramas such asSuits,White Collar,Psych,Burn Notice,Covert Affairs, andRoyal Pains, the USA Network has largely becomethe premiere network for sports and reality TV. Currently the home of WWEMonday Night Raw(which will be headed to Netflix in 2025),The McBee Dynasty, theRace to Survivefranchise, andBarmageddon, the networkonly has one scripted drama in its programming right now, that being the SyFy horror seriesChucky, whichhas yet to be renewed for a fourth season.
The Rainmakeris expectedto kick-start a new beginning for USA, with the network developing a number of hour-long shows in the $2-$3 million dollars per episode range. However, the series isnot expected to be part of their plans to revive its “Blue Sky” brand, which kicked off in 2002 withMonk, andended with the conclusion ofSuitsin 2019.
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WhetherThe Rainmakerbecomes the success USA is hoping for will be up to audiences to decide, but they’reat least moving in the right directiontoward becoming the prestigious network they once were when it came to offering some of the best scripted dramas on television.More news onThe Rainmakerwill be offered as it becomes available.
The 1997 version ofThe Rainmakeris available to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime.
