Presumed Innocent Ending's Shocking Killer Reveal Addressed By Jake Gyllenhaal

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Presumed Innocent.

Summary Jake Gyllenhaal was also surprised by the killer reveal at the ending of Presumed Innocent.

The TV adaptation differs from the book, focusing on Rusty's daughter as the killer, not his wife.

Gyllenhaal admits everyone in the cast thought they could be the killer at some point.

Presumed Innocent star and executive producer Jake Gyllenhaal reacts to that killer reveal, offering perspective on the process that went into it. At the end of the Apple TV+ original, Rusty Sabich (Gyllenhaal) is found not guilty of the murder of Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve). However, in the final minutes of Presumed Innocent season 1, Rusty's daughter Jaden (played by Chase Infiniti) confesses that she was the one who killed his father's pregnant mistress. It is a shocking twist that those familiar with the source material couldn't even predict.

In an interview with The Wrap, Gyllenhaal reacted to the ending of Presumed Innocent and confessed that he had no idea who Carolyn's murderer was going to be. It seems the creative team kept their options open for numerous possibilities. The actor, who executive produces the Apple TV+ show with David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams, jokes in the quote below that everyone was a suspect at one point:

What’s interesting is that we were all in it [as potential suspects]. So as an actor, you’re psychologically in the journey that you’re in, and then all of a sudden, your fate is laid out for you. I knew that there were a number of different potential things. And we were all talking about different ideas. But I don’t think I could have ever suspected what it is. At a certain point, everybody [in the cast] wasn’t sure if it was them [who killed Carolyn].

Does The Presumed Innocent Ending Go Far Enough?

The TV Adaptation Departs From The Book

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It's worth noting that Presumed Innocent breaks away from the Scott Turrow novel of the same name, which it adapts. In the novel, it's Rusty's wife who is guilty of the murder. The Apple TV+ show seems headed in this direction too, with Rusty confessing that he tampered with Carolyn's murder scene after the fact and staged it to protect his wife Barbara (Ruth Negga). For her part, Barbara is horrified by this.

Presumed Innocent was also adapted into a 1990 movie, with Harrison Ford as Rusty, which matches the book's ending.

Giving one of the best performances of the Presumed Innocent cast, Negga keeps Barbara's terrified expression when Jaden confesses to the murder and Rusty embraces her. It's an understandable impulse for each character. Still, the Apple TV+ series, which is the streamer's most-watched to date, could have gone even further in underlining the corrosive Sabich family dynamics by including Rusty's son Kyle (Kingston Rumi Southwick). It would have been a stronger point, albeit still muddled, about how far the family went to save something that was clearly broken.

That sentiment shines through in the finale's last scene. The Sabich family is enjoying a meal all together, with Rusty and Barbara sharing what seems to be a smile. It gestures at a larger point, though that point is perhaps less powerful than it could be, because the scene that reveals Jaden as the killer doesn't feel quite earned and credible. Still, as Presumed Innocent season 2 is confirmed, it is an interesting effort to break away from the source material.

Source: The Wrap