Proven Innocent

Cast and characters

Rachelle Lefevre plays Madeline Scott, a lawyer specializing in wrongful convictions, driven by spending ten years in prison for the murder of her best friend Rosemary, even though she didn't commit it. She studied pre-law while in prison and graduated Yale at the top of her class once released. She draws a line between 'not guilty' and 'innocent', constantly determined to prove her clients' innocence. Clare O'Connor plays Young Madeline Scott.

Russell Hornsby plays Ezekiel 'EZ' Boudreau, a former reinsurance lawyer who got Madeline's conviction overturned and now works as a senior member of her firm. He was the 2,736th lawyer Madeline wrote to while in prison. He is religious but has shown willingness to compromise his views in extreme cases. Nikki M. James plays Violet Bell, the firm's media consultant and podcast host, who offers advice on presenting cases to the public.

Vincent Kartheiser plays Bodie Quick, the firm's chief investigator who enjoys going undercover. Riley Smith plays Levi Scott, Madeline's brother who struggles with oxycodone addiction from the trauma of imprisonment. Kelsey Grammer plays Gore Bellows, the Cook County state attorney whose career has been shadowed by allegations of multiple wrongful convictions, including those of Madeline and Levi Scott. Recurring cast includes Elaine Hendrix as Susan Andrews, Laurie Holden as Greta Bellows, Caitlin Mehner as Heather Husband, Tembi Locke as Vanessa Dale, Tiffany Dupont as Nikki Russo, Catherine Lidstone as Isabel Sanchez, Candice Coke as Wren Grant, and Jeffrey Nordling as Rick Zahn.

Production

On August 4, 2017, Fox gave the production, then titled Infamy, a script plus penalty commitment. The pilot was written by David Elliot, who executive produced alongside Danny Strong and Stacy Greenberg. Production companies included Danny Strong Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. Fox ordered a pilot on February 1, 2018, and a series order on May 9, 2018, with the series premiering in spring 2019 as a mid-season replacement.

The premiere date was set for February 15, 2019. Russell Hornsby was cast in the lead male role on February 21, 2018. In March 2018, Rachelle Lefevre, Vincent Kartheiser, Riley Smith, Brian d'Arcy James, Clare O'Connor, and Nikki M. James joined the main cast. On June 1, 2018, Kelsey Grammer was cast to replace d'Arcy James as Gore Bellows.

Recurring roles were added in September and October 2018. Filming in Chicago was shut down on January 30, 2019, due to the 2019 polar vortex.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 25% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.12/10. The critical consensus reads: 'The jury finds Proven Innocent—on the charges of saddling fine actors with clunky dialogue, padding out its storylines with stale plot contrivances, and wasting viewers' time with rote procedural formula—guilty on all counts.' Metacritic assigned a score of 47 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating 'mixed or average reviews'.