#How HBO gave a sexy modern update to ‘Perry Mason’

Move over, James Bond — Perry Mason is one of pop culture’s most ubiquitous characters to swagger in suits and dispense with bad guys.

Although he’s been sidelined since the “Perry Mason” TV films of the 1990s, he’s back at last. His latest depiction is in an HBO show of the same name (premiering Sunday at 9 p.m.), where he’s played by the “Americans” star Matthew Rhys. In the updated version of the story, the criminal defense lawyer is rougher, edgier and sexier.

“We chose to have this be a fresh take,” the show’s costume designer Emma Potter tells The Post.

Here’s a rundown of how the HBO series has given the classic lawyer some new heat.

Perry’s beginnings

Perry Mason is an LA-based criminal defense lawyer who originated in a series of detective novels by Erle Stanley Gardner, published from 1933 to 1973. Each installment of the best-selling series revolves around solving a different case. It was popular enough for Warner Bros. to release six movies throughout the 1930s, starting with “The Case of the Howling Dog” in 1934, starring Warren William in the titular role. While Perry’s suits never look sloppy, there are no steamy scenes.

For the new series, Potter says she referred to historical photography of the era more than the original “Perry Mason.” The resulting feel is “gritty” and “very lived-in,” she says.

“When you look at the photography of the Great Depression, there’s this visceral quality to the clothing people are wearing and the facial expressions and the body types, and you can see the discomfort within the garments and the wear and tear of everything and the dust and the heat.”

The middle years

Perry’s character is most synonymous with the version played by actor Raymond Burr, who starred in the eponymous CBS series, which ran from 1957 to 1966. The mood of the show — shot in black and white — is serious and dour, and viewers knew nothing about Perry’s personal life or past.

All business, Perry wears a perfectly tailored suit and only occasionally a hat. In every episode, there’s a murder, and Perry defends someone who was wrongly accused. He always believes in his client’s innocence and elicits an on-the-stand confession from the “real killer” after hectoring them in his cross-examination. He never smiles — or loses a case.

“We know the Perry Mason that we end with; this Perry that everyone is familiar with,” Potter says of Burr’s portrayal. When it came to the new HBO show, she says, “rather than work it backwards, we decided to start from scratch with the material that we had, to see what felt right and then transition with him throughout the story to get him to a place where you start to get a sense of this Perry Mason that people know.”

After the CBS series, there was a second series called “The New Perry Mason” starring Monte Markham in the title role (which aired from 1973 to 1974) and a whopping 30 made-for-TV films starring Burr that aired between 1985 and 1995. Like the original — both were more procedural than noir.

Perry today

This latest iteration of Perry sports a signature fedora and trendy five o’clock shadow. Viewers know all about his personal life, from his broken marriage to his pilot lover, Lupe (Veronica Falcón). His suits are also frequently disheveled.

“We talked about the state that he would be in and this question of where he gets his clothing. He’s not someone that’s going out and shopping for new clothing; he’s probably someone that wears garments that are comfortable to him and practical,” says Potter. “He doesn’t have a lot; he’s really using what he has.”

The tone of the show is hardboiled noir and the fedora came about because most men in the 1930s wore hats. Plus, Potter and director Tim Van Patten liked the idea of “this hat where he could use the brim to hide behind, if he needed.”

And while they didn’t set out to make the character “sexier,” it fits the show’s aims, Potter says.

“It was more on our mind to create this iconic character — but you put someone in an interesting hat and a striking silhouette . . . and it is something that is still considered a desirable or stylish look now. That just kind of went hand in hand with the aesthetic of the show. It’s trying to nod to the period but also stay a little present.”