‘Accused’ EP Howard Gordon: ‘It’s About This Revolutionary Moment That We All Find Ourselves In’

When he sat down to write Accused, executive producer Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24) thought of the loneliest moments in a person’s life. One was death, the other standing trial. “Your life, or the balance of it, or however much you have left of it, is now really on the line,” Gordon says. “You’re in the box, and your life is going to change from this moment on forever.”

Accused is a 15-part anthology series featuring a different cast and a different story each week. Every episode opens in a courtroom with a defendant, and the story of how they got there unfolds from their perspective. “We are really experiencing the accumulating events that conspired against them to bring them to this moment, or the choices they made that got worse and led them to this,” Gordon says.

An all-star roster of actors and directors brings these stories to life. Michael Chiklis plays a brain surgeon who learns that his son may be planning a violent attack at school. Marlee Matlin makes her directorial debut in the tale of a deaf surrogate (Stephanie Nogueras) who is forced to take protective action. Billy Porter directs the story of a drag queen’s (J. Harrison Ghee) affair that has devastating consequences.

Accused is rooted in the reality and moral quandaries of our time. “It’s about this revolutionary moment that we all find ourselves in,” Gordon says. “These are very, very human stories that could never have been told even five years ago. They’re all very human-scale, very personal stories about very specific characters. But the material for the stories are along some of the fault lines of race, of power, of identity, of truth itself.”

And expect each episode to provoke thought and evoke emotion. “I do want the show, at the end of it, to leave people silent and thinking differently about what they thought than when they started the series,” Gordon says.

Accused premieres Sunday, Jan. 22, following FOX’s coverage of the NFL playoffs. The series airs Tuesdays beginning Jan. 24 at 9pm ET/PT.

“Accused” Guest Stars Include

Abigail Breslin plays a young woman who goes catfishing to find a white nationalist who plowed his car through a peaceful demonstration.

Rachel Bilson stars in an episode about a family caught in a troubling situation.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner is a concerned and protective parent who deals with an incident involving his daughter in a park.

Wendell Pierce plays a detective assigned to the case involving Warner’s character.

Margo Martindale stars in a story tackling conspiracy theories.

Whitney Cummings plays a stand-up comedian who contends with public opinion and courtroom bias in a sexual assault case.