It’s been nearly two years since “Your Honor” ended with Adam Desiato (Hunter Doohan) dying in the arms of his inconsolable father, fallen New Orleans judge Michael Desiato (Bryan Cranston), after being struck down by a bullet meant for thug Carlo Baxter.
That episode supposedly closed the saga of “Your Honor,” based on the Israeli series “Kvodo” and intended to run for one close-ended season. But such was its popularity — it set Showtime viewership records — that Cranston and showrunner Peter Moffat were lured back for Season 2, premiering Jan. 15 (9 p.m.) on Showtime with new cast member Rosie Perez.
“I was only contracted to do one season and I loved how it ended; it was very bitter and tragic but appropriate,” Cranston, 66, told The Post in a joint interview with Perez. “I thought the season ended well and I was fine with walking away, but Peter Moffat said, ‘What do you think happened to Michael after that?’ I said, ‘I think he ended his own life or he’s in prison for his crimes’ … and we started talking and I realized there was a lot more story to tell — and if Showtime was willing to dive into dark subject matter that I would be willing to dive in with them.
Michael Desiato (Bryan Cranston) is shattered by grief as Season 2 of “Your Honor” kicks into gear.Skip Bolen/SHOWTIME“That, to me, was the only way to have any possibility of a story,” Cranston said. “To continue to deal with that reality. Season 2 is about both asking for and receiving redemption and forgiveness … things that people have related to in their lives, issues that are heavy and serious — and I thought that if we can honestly walk through that and deal with despair in an honest way, then I’m interested in exploring that.”
Season 2 picks up shortly after Adam’s death. Michael, now stripped of his judicial powers after the events of Season 1, is nearly mute and unreachable in his grief while the powerful Baxter crime family, lead by patriarch Jimmy (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his wife, Gina (Hope Davis), deals with the impact of Adam’s death on son Carlo (Jimi Stanton) and daughter Fia (Lilli Kay), Adam’s girlfriend who witnessed his murder. Also returning are Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Charlie Figaro, Michael’s best friend and mayoral candidate; dogged Det. Nancy Costello (Amy Landecker); and underworld boss Big Mo (Andrene Ward-Hammond), whose young soldier, Eugene Jones (Benjamin Flores Jr.), shot the avenging bullet meant for Carlo Baxter in the Season 1 finale.
“It’s going to be different than what you would expect … but it has to be legitimate,” Cranston said of the Season 2 storyline. “There are secrets and twists and turns … that keeps it alive and fresh, but everything has to be plausible. Everything has to make sense in the trajectory of these characters.”
Rosie Perez joins the Season 2 cast as hard-charging Assistant US Attorney Olivia Delmont.Andrew Cooper/SHOWTIMEPerez (“The Flight Attendant,” “Now and Then”) plays Olivia Delmont, an Assistant US Attorney investigating and trying to dismantle the Baxter crime syndicate — with Michael’s help.
“They called me on a Friday and I had to get on a plane that Sunday [for New Orleans] and shoot on Monday,” said Perez, 58. “It was pretty nerve-racking. I said to Bryan, ‘I can’t do this’ but he was so reassuring and convincing and supportive and I really hated him for that,” she said with a smile. “I am friends with an assistant DA and there are law enforcement members within my family, so I was on the phone with them quite a bit as I got on the plane.
“The challenge for me in playing Olivia was having an unwilling participant,” she said, alluding to Cranston’s Michael Desiato. “She’s a bit flabbergasted but she can’t show her cards. As their relationship progresses she starts to get frustrated … like, ‘What is wrong with you? Who are you? You were a judge, you know.’ She doesn’t spare anybody.”
Michael Stuhlbarg and Jimi Stanton as Jimmy Baxter and his son, Carlo.Andrew Cooper/SHOWTIME“Olivia has a very strong drive and a very strong aim at what she wants from Michael, who’s rowing in the opposite direction,” Cranston said. “It creates a lot of room for discovery and for this antagonistic relationship. It’s also an unweighted situation. My character this season is so distraught that he’s not talkative. He’s not cooperative. He’s reticent. He’s resistant to involvement. So Rosie had to drive every scene. She had to throw things in quickly and that’s why we offered [the role] to her because we knew that whoever took on this job had to have a history of playing confident people — and Rosie was able to just grab a hold and give it a tug.”
And, Cranston, aka Walter White from “Breaking Bad,” said, there’s an upcoming bonus for fans of the AMC series.
“As a nice little Easter Egg, there’s a very important role of an actor who comes on and is part of the ‘Breaking Bad’ universe,” he said. “So it was fun to see that person, and I won’t say who it is, but that person comes on and we have a really cool interaction.
“We just pulled in the best actors we could find and let them do their thing,” he said, “and it made for an alchemy that really has an explosive finish.”
