Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy to Star in ‘Accused’ Season 2

Felicity Huffman and her husband, William H. Macy, are slated to star in season 2 of Accused.

Huffman, 61, and Macy, 74, will appear in the Fox anthology series with Nick Cannon alongside season 1’s Michael Chiklis.

In the premiere episode of season 1, Chiklis, 60, took the lead role playing neurosurgeon Scott Harmon, who faced trial for aiding a school shooter. It’s not clear what part he will play in the second season.

Adapted from Jimmy McGovern’s 2010 British series of the same name, Accused made its debut in January 2023. Each installment delves into a distinct trial, introducing the accused with their crime undisclosed. The circumstances leading to their trial are gradually unveiled from the defendant’s viewpoint throughout the episode.

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Fox announced a direct-to-series order for Accused in 2021, produced by 24’s Howard Gordon, Homeland’s Alex Gansa and House’s David Shore. The series became part of the network’s midseason lineup in 2022. Then, in March 2023, Fox confirmed the renewal of the Accused for a second season.

Within three days of its multi-platform premiere, the debut episode garnered over 11.3 million viewers and achieved a 2.3 rating among the 18-49 demographic. This marks the highest-rated and most-watched debut on Fox in the past three years.

The title seems fitting for Huffman’s real-life courtroom saga after she was arrested in the 2019 college admissions scandal. The actress, who contributed $15,000 to manipulate her daughter Sophia’s SAT scores, was among 50 individuals involved in the scandal, including fellow actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli.

Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in jail and one year of supervised release, fined $30,000 and ordered to do 250 hours of community service. She completed her sentence by October 2020.

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“It’s been hard. Sort of like your old life died and you died with it,” Huffman told The Guardian in a February interview. “I’m lucky enough to have a family and love and means, so I had a place to land.”

In March 2019, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Macy was “heartbroken” over the ordeal. “He’s been in tears.”

The couple, who tied the knot in 1997, share daughters Sophia, 23, and Georgia, 22.

Following the scandal, Huffman retreated from the spotlight, only to resurface briefly in 2023’s The Good Doctor before making her stage debut earlier this year in a revival of Hir.

Apart from Accused, the Desperate Housewives alum is set for a guest appearance on the second season of the Criminal Minds spinoff Criminal Minds: Evolution.

Huffman and Macy have shared the screen before. They previously appeared together in 1992’s The Water Engine and 1993’s A Slight Case of Murder.