Television

MARY AND GEORGE

• By KEN WERTHER

DARK MATTER

• By KENNE HOFFMAN

Apple TV+ delivers another ground-breaking Sci-Fi series Dark Matter, based on Blake Crouch’s critically acclaimed 2016 best-selling novel of the same name. Not the first successful Sci-Fi series for Apple, others include For All Mankind, Silo and Foundation. “Dark Matter” the novel initially received mixed reviews from critics, but later was nominated for the World Technology Award. The series offers a blend of emotional depth and speculative science fiction and physics, focusing on the philosophical implications of its premise as much as on the narrative.

Dark Matter offers viewers a thought-provoking exploration of the paths not taken as Physicist Jason Dressen (Joel Edgerton, Uncle Owen in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith and Obi-Wan) is kidnapped and sent to a parallel universe in which another version of his life unfolds because of a choice he made fifteen years earlier. “Dark Matter” draws on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, that every possible outcome creates a new universe that runs parallel to our own. Dressen embarks on a quest to understand the physics of his new reality and to find a way to return to his own universe, timeline, and the family he loves. The cast of the nine episode limited series includes Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmy Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi and Oakes Fegley and Dark Matter author Blake Crouch serves as writer, series creator, executive producer, and showrunner.

Apple TV+’s Dark Matter launches the first two episodes on May 8, 2024, then weekly through the series finale on June 26, 2024.

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FRANKLIN

• By SAMANTHA COLWELL

From creating a lightning rod to fashioning bifocal glasses, the history of Ben Franklin is a storied one. Franklin was a Founding Father, a diplomat in the early days of American politics, and an inventor whose discoveries left an immeasurable impact on the world. But the private affairs of Benjamin Franklin do not pale in comparison to his professional works; illegitimate children and a long line of mistresses haunt the man’s history. It is no wonder, then, that the miniseries based on his later years spent in France would be rife with drama, mystery, and intrigue.

Starring Michael Douglas (Ant-Man, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct) as the titular Benjamin Franklin, Franklin focuses on the inventor in his twilight years, when he engineered the 1778 alliance between America and France despite the efforts of British and French spies to the contrary. Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place, Ford v. Ferrari, Suburbicon) stars as Franklin’s grandson and secretary Temple Franklin, who plays a pivotal role in the eight years depicted by the miniseries. Daniel Mays (EastEnders, Rogue One) appears as American double agent Edward Bancroft, and a host of storied actors take part in bringing history to life.

There are three more as-yet-unreleased episodes of Franklin to come; the show premiered on Apple TV+ on April 12, 2024, and a new episode drops every Friday.

To watch, click here.

THE VEIL

• By SAMANTHA COLWELL

Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale, West Wing) and Yumna Marwan (Little Birds) appear opposite each other as diametrically opposed women in this international spy thriller. MI6 agent Imogene Salter (Moss) is charged with extricating Adilah El Idrissi (Marwan) from a Syrian refugee camp, a task that proves easier said than done as Salter and El Idrissi go rogue, evade capture by multiple governments, and end up on the run. Two feuding male agents, Max Peterson of the CIA and Malik Amar of the DGES, round out the show and add some moments of levity to the serious, gripping drama of the main conflict. Josh Charles (The Good Wife, Dead Poets Society) plays Peterson, while Dali Benssalah (No Time To Die, Athena) plays Amar.

Moss went deep into character for this role, both learning an authentic British accent and performing complicated stunt choreography. This proved to come with its fair share of risk; during filming in Istanbul, Moss fractured a vertebra in her spine. While performing a stunt where she chases an enemy across a rooftop, she “hit a wall the wrong way” and ended up incapacitated for several hours, though she returned to set the very next day so as not to interrupt filming.

The first two episodes premiered on FX on April 30, 2024; a new episode drops every Tuesday.

For more, click here.