The Rainmaker, the first original scripted series under the Versant moniker, has gotten off to a solid start.
The legal drama, which airs on USA Network, part of the soon-to-be spun-off cable portfolio, drew 2.2M in its first three days. It was helped by the fact that it debuted as a simulcast across five networks and Peacock.
This made it the most-viewed original series premiere in the Versant portfolio since the launch of Syfy’s Resident Alien in 2021.
Per Versant, it also became the number one scripted cable original series premiere on linear TV in 2025 with 39% more viewers than TNT’s Librarians: Next Chapter, which was the second-ranked series premiere. However, there haven’t been as many scripted premieres on cable this year as there has been over the last few years.
The company said that The Rainmaker has reached 6.3 million viewers on linear TV to date.
The John Grisham adaptation, which airs tonight at 10pm on USA Network,
From showrunner and executive producer Michael Seitzman, the Lionsgate and Blumhouse-produced series follows Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) who, fresh out of law school, goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond (John Slattery) and his law school girlfriend Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman). Rudy, along with his boss (Lana Parrilla) and her disheveled paralegal, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.
The cast also includes Madison Iseman, P.J. Byrne, Dan Fogler, Wade Briggs and Robyn Cara.
The Rainmaker received a series order from the NBCUniversal cable network in June 2024, capping a six-year journey by Seitzman to bring the book to TV. Seitzman and Jason Richman wrote the pilot script, with Seitzman to serve as showrunner. The two are executive producing with Grisham, Jason Blum and David Gernert.
Versant also operates CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel.
