Fans of Hulu‘s Reasonable Doubt are familiar with the formidable Jax Stewart. But Emayatzy Corinealdi, the actress behind the series’ central criminal defense attorney, opened up to DECIDER about the experience of working with two empowering female figures behind the scenes: series creator and showrunner Raamla Mohamed and executive producer Kerry Washington.

“I’m surrounded by powerful women who know what they want,” she shared. “They see it, they’re clear, they know how to go after it, and they stand strong in their vision.”

Now with three seasons under her belt as Jax, Corinealdi said she is “definitely attached” to her character.

“I’m protective of her,” she admitted. “When she makes choices, and especially in this season, I want her to have her peace.”

During a visit to the DECIDER studio—on the day of Reasonable Doubt‘s Season 3 premiere—Corinealdi also spoke about the “rewarding” experience of conveying “heavy” real-world topics on screen, how the latest installment remains just as “unexpected” as Seasons 1 and 2, and what shows she thinks Jax would be watching. Give our conversation a read.

DECIDER: Before we delve into Reasonable Doubt Season 3, I want to catch up a little bit on the end of Season 2, which really saw an emotional turn for Jax. You beautifully tapped into her vulnerability as she pursued individual therapy, as well as couples therapy with Lewis. What was it like conveying the importance of mental health on screen?

EMAYATZY CORINEALDI: I mean, it’s everything. Especially just being part of the Black experience of it all. As an artist, to have the opportunity to do that, that’s something that’s almost kind of taboo in terms of the Black experience in therapy. They just don’t go together always. So it really was a great opportunity to speak to that and show how it can be healthy, how it can truly have results. How it doesn’t weaken you as a person for desiring therapy. And showing that there is a tangible result that can come from it if you have two people who are committed and who want to be there. It can be a great thing. When you take it out of that bubble of the Black experience of it all, it’s the human experience. It’s healing on another level. It’s just great. It’s one of the topics that the show handles so wonderfully.

Speaking of the couples therapy portion of it, while Reasonable Doubt is a legal drama, it also really is conveying Jax and Lewis’ love story. But last season ended with the bombshell that Toni is suing Jax and Lewis for the death of Jaden, her and Lewis’ baby. Will they make it through this? What can you tease as they take this on in Season 3?

Girl, I don’t know. We’re going to have to see. That was something for me, even as Emayatzy the actress, I had to kind of dig deep into the reality of women who have this experience, couples who have this experience. Because it’s easy sometimes on the outside looking in and you can judge people. But we’re all human. We all have these experiences. But it took for me to step outside of myself, not judge the character, and understand why. Why they would possibly even choose to stay in that situation, what do they see from that, and it really helped me to understand a bit more, and to then truthfully portray Jax in that way. So when we leave in Season 2 and we come in now and we see that ok, there is this lawsuit that’s happening, there are so many other things that happened as a result of this. There’s residual things that Jax has to deal with as a woman, as a mother. She has a teenage daughter, wanting to be a great example. So there are so many things that they work through as a family and we get to see this couple prioritize their marriage, prioritize their relationship, and really not allow one thing to take them down. And I really think that Jax and Lewis should be commended for that. Whether people agree or not, this is the choice that they’re making for their marriage.

And they’ve grown so much together on screen.

Yes.

Have you two felt that you’ve grown together as actors throughout this process?

We definitely have. McKinley [Freeman] and I, we are just locked in together. We trust each other, we love to play and explore when we’re in the scene in the moment, and that is what adds to, I think, the reality. You can just feel it when we’re in the moment in the scene and it comes across. When I’ve watched the show, when I remember particular moments, it’s, “Oh yeah, we just let ourselves go.” We knew that the other one would be there to pick us up, and it makes a difference.

You can definitely see that. You kind of touched on this, but family is such an important tenet of this show and we get to see Jax’s family grow on screen, as well. What was it like developing this camaraderie and chemistry with not only Lewis, but also your on-screen children?

Oh my gosh, our kids are so great. We have Aderinsola [Olabode] and TJ [Mixson]. They are just such great actors period, just to start. But then they also, when we’re in our scenes, they’re present. They’re there. They’re ready to play. We love the Stewart family, and they go on these journeys. That first season where my son just didn’t want to have anything to do with me, people really resonated with that storyline and they understood Jax’s frustration. They understood the son’s insolence, at times. They didn’t agree with it. And the same thing for Aderinsola. She just is going through these transitions as a teenager, and it’s so fun to be able to really highlight all of those realities. This is a real family experiencing real changes and dealing with them in real time.

Jax is such a dynamic, badass character. I love watching her. Was there anyone, whether it be another TV or film character, or someone in real life, that kind of influenced or inspired your development of her?

Well outside of the real-life lawyer Shawn Holley, who the show is loosely based on. She is a high-powered, badass attorney in LA, so I didn’t have to look much further than that. But this role for me is a full-circle moment because I thought I was going to be a lawyer. I just loved the idea of it until realizing, no, you just like the drama. You like the bad suits, you like the acting that happens when you’re in the courtroom. I realized that early on, you don’t really want to be a lawyer. But since then, I’ve always been attracted to law shows. Damages with Glenn Close is one of my favorite, favorite shows. She was just killing it. I love anything that has that element to it. So I have a lot of characters in my head that I’ve been able to kind of pull things from. For better or worse [laughs].

Definitely for better. I watched an interview with you recently where you talked about how you nearly didn’t read the script for Reasonable Doubt. What was it about the show or the script once you read it that ultimately made you change your mind?

You saw that first episode, didn’t you in Season 1? That’s what I read. What I read was what came across on screen and I couldn’t believe it. I had a whole other opportunity in my hand just ready to go. But I read that and I said, “Oh, wow. This is different. This is exciting. This is scary.” And that made the choice for me right there.

With Season 3, to shift gears a little bit, [the show] welcomed Joseph Sikora onto the cast as Bill Sterling, who’s trying to work his way up to partner. Are his intentions pure and what kind of obstacles may this present for Jax? What can you tease to us about his storyline?

The dynamic between Jax and Bill is going to be interesting. He is a colleague at the firm. He’s been there for a couple of years, and he makes it known pretty early on that, “Hey, I admire you, I respect you, and I have aspirations to be where you are.” Jax is a woman who works hard. She’s had to fight her way up, a lot of times more often than she should have had to because she has this proven track record. She’s finding herself in these situations where she has to constantly prove herself, which is the reality of a lot of women in the workplace. So when she meets this man who feels like he should almost be entitled to the position where she is, it’s like wait a minute now, where are we going with this? They have a little bit of a battle before maybe realizing ok, are we on the same team? Maybe you are someone I can trust. But time will tell.

With three seasons under your belt now with this strong character, have you developed an attachment to Jax at all?

Yes, I do. I love Jax. I’m protective of her. When she makes choices, and especially in this season, I want her to have her peace. Before we started filming, I was excited about what the scripts were going to be because I just was hoping ok, is Jax going to stay in her peace. If she’s going to get a chance to breathe and exhale from everything that has happened. So yes, I am definitely attached to her now.

Something else I love about this show is the dynamic and the relationship between Jax, Crystle (Angela Grovey), and Daniel (Tim Jo) in the workplace. It definitely adds this level of levity to such an intense drama. How did you three create this comedic dynamic while also balancing the heavy topics that this series is conveying?

It started from what our showrunner Raamla Mohamed created. Within that workspace in the office, she had a specific relationship in mind, a specific dynamic in mind, and she found actors that were able to convey that in Angela Grovey and Tim Jo who are fantastic. And Angela who is on Broadway! Her show is happening tonight and which we’re going to see. They’re just fantastic actors. It’s just one of those situations where you have the writing and you have the actors, and we all come together. So the levity and everything that was already there, it comes to life. It comes to life when it is coming out of the mouths of the right people, and they’re the right ones.

How do you prepare yourself to tackle such intense topics in this show? It ranges from race, to domestic violence, to mental health. How do you go into this while also balancing that yes, this is a character and this is a show, but also realizing these are real-world topics that you need to convey appropriately?

It really is heavy, especially when you are fully, fully involved. You’re there, you’re giving your full self. I know it’s not just me, it’s my entire cast and crew. Everyone is there and they’re present. It’s part of the commitment that you make to deciding to take on the show, to be that #1 on the call sheet. You want to bring the truth, bring the honesty. bring the reality. There is a cost to that because it’s a lot to carry. You have to make sure that you’re imbuing the character with the right amount of truth that’s required. It almost doesn’t help—it’s a good and a bad thing—but it doesn’t help that we’re in a society now that all of the things that the show has been dealing with, they’re there. They’re just present. It’s easy to pull from that and then translate it into this character. It’s not something we have to invent. That makes it easy in that sense, but also difficult to have carry the burden to be able to do it. But that is what makes it so much fun. That’s where the acting and the play part comes in. It’s the kind of thing that you hope for, that you pray for. That you can have a character on a show that’s having a full experience dealing with real things, not just simple, fun little things. That makes it rewarding.

And people can relate to it and connect with it, as well. You mentioned Raamla Mohamed, the series creator. What has your experience been like working with her, as well as with executive producer Kerry Washington, on this series?

I’m surrounded by powerful women who know what they want. They see it, they’re clear, they know how to go after it, and they stand strong in their vision. Especially it’s been my experience with Raamla. She’s had a very clear vision for the show: how these characters look, what this world looks like. She’s had to fight for that over time, and she has done that so well. She’s earned my respect in that way, in seeing the way that she navigates it, this being her first show where she’s a showrunner. She knows that she still has a voice. She knows that she still has a perspective that is valid. And that is something that I, Emayatzy, am taking away from this, but that I hope that other people who are watching this show, who know this, can see that as women, we have power. Just because if someone else deems we don’t have an experience or things like that, none of that matters. And Raamla and Kerry have shown me exactly that.

The first two episodes of Season 3 are out now, but is there any word of a potential Season 4 in store? Or would you be open to it?

To be determined! Right now, we are living in the space of [Season] 3. I can’t wait for the audience to see it and to leave all of the comments, because they’re very vocal and that makes it a lot of fun. So hopefully! We love the show. I love having the opportunity to portray this character, so it would be wonderful. But I can wait for everyone to see what we’ve done with [Season] 3.

If you could use one word to describe Season 3, what would it be and why?

I would say unexpected… because if you’ve watched the first season and the second season, you know that nothing is expected. You know that the rug is going to be pulled out from under you, and this season is no different.

At DECIDER, we’re a site that’s dedicated to all things streaming. So there are two questions that are going to come out of this. One, what shows do you think your character Jax would watch? And what are you currently watching?

I think Jax would probably watch, on the reality side, she’s probably watching a little bit of Atlanta Housewives. Probably some kind of cooking show because Jax has been accused of not cooking, but I think that is something she has playing in the background. Then I think she’d probably be watching some kind of medical show. For some reason, that’s what I see with her. She wants to just kind of get out of her world and see what it’s like in the other world, and be fully enthralled in that.

Emayatzy, what do I watch? Reality side, I love anything homebuilding. I am an HGTV junkie. Any show, all of those. Windy City Rehab, Property Brothers, all of them. And then on the other side, I love The Bear, I love Abbott Elementary. I have a lot of shows. Those are my two that I think as of late I’ve been watching.

Are there any shows that you could see Reasonable Doubt doing a crossover with? Or who you would love to do a crossover with?

Ooh, that’s a good one! You know, an Abbott Elementary/Reasonable Doubt crossover would be quite interesting. Quite interesting! I would love to see that. I think it would be very good!

The first two episodes of Reasonable Doubt are streaming on Hulu. New episodes of Season 3 premiere on Thursdays.

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