Just Cause is based on the 1992 novel by John Katzenbach and is being developed by writer Christy Hall. The series is a collaboration between Johansson's These Pictures banner, Warner Bros. TV, and Amazon Studios, who secured the rights.
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The TV adaptation of Just Cause will feature a gender swap for the book's main character, Matt Cowart, originally a male Miami newspaper editorial writer. Johansson will portray the female lead, Madison "Madi" Cowart, a struggling reporter sent to cover the final days of a death row inmate in Florida.
The executive producers will include Hall, Johansson, Jefferson, Wells, Jonathan Lia, and Keenan Flynn, and Erin Jontow. Zara Duffy, Head of Television for These Pictures, will oversee the project. Warner Bros. TV will handle the production.
Just Cause was made into a feature film in 1995. Arne Glimcher directed the film and it stars Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne.
Here is the goodreads synopsis of Just Cause by John Katzenbach:
At first report Matt Cowart doesn't believe the claims of innocence from Robert Earl Ferguson, Death Row inmate. But the more Coward digs into his case, the more he believes that, as a black man, Ferguson is a victim of hate and prejudice, and that the wrong man is going to be executed. Cowart lets fly a series of hard-hitting investigative articles that ultimately frees Ferguson and gets Cowart a Pulitzer Prize. He's a hero, a celebrity, a big-hearted guy--who has unwittingly set in motion a scenario of horror and death....
Source: Deadline