Culture

Apple TV+ first look: will glossy psychological thriller Surface be your next TV obsession?

Gugu Mbatha-Raw reclines on a bench in San Francisco in a scene from Apple TV+ show Surface

What if you woke up one day and didn’t know your own secrets?

That’s the premise behind Surface, a new eight-episode psychological thriller from Veronica West (High Fidelity). The show will premiere globally on July 29, 2022 on Apple TV+,  with the first three episodes; new episodes will then drop weekly. 

Against a backdrop of affluent San Francisco, Surface stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Morning Show) as Sophie, a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt. 

As Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends, she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is in fact the truth she has lived. Expect twists, turns and an unexpected love triangle.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw also executive produces.

Surface follows a string of critically acclaimed Apple Originals, including Severance, We Crashed and Shining Girls.

The ensemble cast includes Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House), Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk), Ari Graynor (I’m Dying Up Here), Academy Award nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies), François Arnaud (I Killed My Mother) and Millie Brady (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).

Surface follows a string of critically acclaimed Apple originals, including Severance, We Crashed and Shining Girls…

The talent list behind the show is formidable. West, who created and wrote the original series, also serves as executive producer. Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter executive produce. Emmy Award-nominee Sam Miller (I May Destroy You), directed four episodes of the series including the pilot and serves as executive producer.  Kevin Sullivan, Jennifer Morrison, Tucker Gates also directed episodes. 

Upcoming shows to look out for on the Apple streaming service include the limited series The Last Thing He Told Me, based on The New York Times bestselling novel and executive produced by and starring Jennifer Garner; and My Kind of Country, a global competition series to search for unconventional country music talent; the return of the Emmy, SAG and Critics Choice Award-winning series The Morning Show; and the third season of NAACP Image Award-winning Truth Be Told, starring Octavia Spencer and Gabrielle Union.

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