This New Netflix Show Puts A Twist On Classic Legal Dramas

Is a jury system really the best way to determine someone’s fate? That’s the question at the center of Netflix’s The Twelve, which peers inside the lives of 12 jurors tasked with deciding the case of a woman accused of killing her best friend and her own daughter. The 10-episode drama premieres July 10, and Netflix hasn't yet announced if The Twelve will return for Season 2. But if its success abroad is any indication, the show will likely be back for more.

The Twelve debuted in Belgium last year and went on to win Best Screenplay at the CanneSeries 2019, with SBS calling it "addictive." Unlike many legal dramas, most of the action takes place outside of the courtroom, exposing the backgrounds and biases the jurors may be bringing in with them.

"We talked discreetly with quite a few ex-jurors [while writing the series]," creators Bert Van Dael and Sanne Nuyens told Variety. "One of the ex-jurors told us about her terrorizing husband while being on jury duty. She said she recognized traits of her jealous husband in the defendant and told us she feared ending up like the victim when she would stay with her husband. After her jury duty she finally had the courage to leave her husband. It was the jury duty that changed her life. But it was also her own personal life that found the defendant convicted."

The two haven't mentioned anything about a potential Season 2, but a Deadline report from 2019 described The Twelve as "a legal drama that examines one high-stakes case each season." So it's possible Dael and Nuyens plan to return with a second season centered around a new case. For now, we'll have to wait and see.