Jury Duty (2023 TV series)

Jury Duty (also known as Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat for season 2) is an American reality hoax sitcom television series created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, about a fake jury trial. It stars Ronald Gladden as a juror who is unaware of the hoax. James Marsden co-stars alongside an ensemble cast. It premiered on Amazon Freevee on April 7, 2023.

The series received three nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Marsden. It also received two nominations at the 81st Golden Globes, for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Supporting Actor for Marsden. The series also won a Peabody Award.

In February 2025, a second season was confirmed to have already been filmed. The first three episodes premiered on Amazon Prime Video on March 20, 2026, following the discontinuation of Freevee.

The first season chronicles the inner workings of a jury trial in the US through the eyes of juror Ronald Gladden, a solar contractor from San Diego, who is unaware that his jury duty summons was not official, and that everyone in the courtroom aside from him is an actor. Everything that happens, inside and outside the courtroom, is planned.

The second season follows Anthony Norman, who believes he has been hired as a temporary worker at family-owned business "Rockin' Grandma's Hot Sauce" to help manage the annual company retreat. Like the first season, every participant besides Anthony is an actor.

• Ronald Gladden as himself (Juror #6), the only juror who is unaware the entire case is fake

• James Marsden as himself (Juror #14), portraying a parody of himself as an alternate juror

• Mekki Leeper as Noah Price (Juror #11), a rideshare driver who misses his vacation with his girlfriend due to jury duty

• Edy Modica as Jeannie Abruzzo (Juror #4), a promiscuous juror with an attraction to Noah

• Ishmel Sahid as Lonnie Coleman (Juror #13), an alternate who takes over Tim's spot when he gets injured

• David Brown as Todd Gregory (Juror #2), a socially awkward inventor

• Cassandra Blair as Vanessa Jenkins (Juror #8)

• Maria Russell as Inez De Leon (Juror #10), a juror who has ambitions to be the foreperson

• Kirk Fox as Pat McCurdy (Juror #1)

• Susan Berger as Barbara Goldstein (Juror #5), a juror who keeps sleeping during the trial

• Ross Kimball as Ross Kubiak (Juror #12), a teacher who is having marital troubles

• Pramode Kumar as Ravi Chattapodhyay (Juror #3)

• Ron Song as Ken Hyun (Juror #9), a candy machine business owner

• Brandon Loeser as Tim Smith (Juror #7), a juror who gets injured and released from the trial

• Alan Barinholtz as Judge Alan Rosen

• Rashida Olayiwola as Officer Nikki Wilder, the bailiff

• Whitney Rice as Jacquiline Hilgrove, the wealthy plaintiff who owns the business, Cinnamon and Sparrow

• Ben Seaward as Trevor Morris, the defendant, an employee of Cinnamon and Sparrow, who is accused of harming the business

• Trisha LaFache as Debra LaSeur, the plaintiff's attorney

• Evan Williams as Shaun Sanders, Trevor's defense attorney

• Kerry O'Neill as Officer Christine Sugalski, who becomes friends with the jurors and helps Noah check on his girlfriend's Instagram

• Peter Hulne as Randy "Cody" Schiller, a witness for the plaintiff.

• Lisa Gilroy as Genevieve Telford-Warren, a witness for the plaintiff.

• Anthony Norman as Himself, who is hired at Rockin' Grandma's Hot Sauce as a temp assistant who is unaware that the company is fake

• Blair Beeken as Marjorie Lee, the owner of the retreat

• Alex Bonifer as Dougie Womack Jr., Doug's son and future CEO of Rockin' Grandma's Hot Sauce

• Warren Burke as Steve Mosley

• LaNisa Renee Frederick as Jackie Griffin, distribution and logistics manager at Rockin' Grandma's

• Jerry Hauck as Doug Womack, retiring CEO of Rockin' Grandma's Hot Sauce

• Erica Hernandez as Kate Martinez, sales and marketing manager at Rockin' Grandma's

• Stephanie Hodge as Helen Schaffer, accountant at Rockin' Grandma's

• Rachel Kaly as Claire Coleman, remote IT tech and web designer at Rockin' Grandma's

• Rob Lathan as "Other" Anthony Gwinn, sourcing manager at Rockin' Grandma's

• Emily Pendergast as Amy Patterson, customer relations manager at Rockin' Grandma's

• Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur as PJ Green, receptionist at Rockin' Grandma's and aspiring snack influencer

• Jim Woods as Jimmy Weber, warehouse manager at Rockin' Grandma's

• Wendy Braun as Elizabeth Prescott

• Ryan Perez as Kevin Gomez, head of HR at Rockin' Grandma's

• Lisa Gilroy as Christine Westbrook-Clark

• Brian Patrick Farrell as Brian DeCoy

• Katy Colloton as Teri Braun

• Dan Perrault as Dan P.

• Roni Lee as Rockin' Grandma

• Nicholas Rutherford as Cole, a realtor who has left behind a personal item at the retreat

• Ryan Vukelich as Himself

On September 15, 2022, it was reported that a semi-improvised docu-style comedy series starring James Marsden and a group of up-and-coming actors with improv backgrounds had secretly been filmed for Amazon Studios. The 17-day shoot was filmed in a real courtroom south of Los Angeles. According to executive producer Todd Schulman, Jury Duty began as an attempt to make a sitcom like The Office about a trial, with a real person at the center of the show who does not know that he is surrounded by actors. Creators Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky both previously worked as writer-producers on The Office.

In order to find a non-actor for the show's lead, an ad was put up on Craigslist. Marsden stars as an alternate version of himself, alongside other actors including Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, and Rashida Olayiwola. Marsden was offered his part traditionally; over 1000 actors submitted to be on the jury with an additional 500 for the judge, prosecutors and defenders - with production wanting people with legal backgrounds for these parts; after the initial self tapes for the jury, finalists such as Berger, Edi Modica, Mekki Leeper, Blair (who also was considered for the part of the bailiff), Ron Song, Whitney Rice (who ended up as the plaintiff) and others were given character prompts and intermixed into a focus group where they would interact with regular people and each other as their promoted characters. Kirk Fox was initially supposed to have more screentime and interactions with Ronald Gladden, but Fox was directed to stay clear of Gladden when production became aware that Gladden was a fan of Parks and Recreation, a show Fox was featured on.

The series' first four episodes premiered on Amazon Freevee on April 7, 2023, and the fifth and sixth episodes followed on April 14. The final two episodes, including the season finale, were released on April 21, 2023.

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 84% approval rating based on 37 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While this courtroom comedy isn't as tedious as actual jury duty – largely thanks to a very game James Marsden – the verdict is still out on whether its stylistic gambit pays off." Metacritic gave the first season a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on seven critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Rendy Jones of RogerEbert.com called the series "a solid workplace comedy that tells a resonant story of community, delightfully unpacking how it's not just about serving in this world but who you're serving with." Charles Bramesco of The Guardian gave the series 2 out of 5 stars, writing, "With the head of a hidden-camera prank show, the heart of a workplace sitcom, and the body of a true crime documentary, the boundary-blurring new comedy Jury Duty makes for an odd chimera of genres."

The second season received positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating based on 26 critic reviews. Metacritic gave the second season a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

• The Joe Schmo Show – a similar hoax show, set around the production of a reality show.

• Invasion Iowa – a reality television hoax show.

• Living the Dream (New Zealand TV series) – a reality television hoax show

• Official website

• Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat official website

• Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat at IMDb