Surface on Apple TV Plus is a thriller starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Sophie, a woman recovering from a traumatic head injury who can no longer remember her own secrets.
In fact, she can’t remember anything about her past. Sophie is told she tried to commit suicide but cannot understand why she'd have done that if her life was as perfect as she’s been told. As Sophie tries to put the pieces of her life back together, with the help of her husband James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and friends, Sophie starts to question what is the real truth and who she can actually trust.
So here's everything you need to know about Surface on Apple TV Plus...
Surface release date
The first three episodes of Surface will launch worldwide on Apple TV Plus on Friday July 29 2022. Surface is an eight-part series so these three launch episodes will be followed by a new episode every week on Fridays.
Is there a trailer for Surface?
Yes there's a fabulous trailer for Surface and we can already see we’re going to be hooked. You can watch it right here....
Surface plot
Surface follows Sophie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who's suffering from extreme memory loss as a result of a traumatic head injury. She fell from the deck of a ferry in San Francisco and has been informed by just about everybody that she tried to commit suicide. But the facts, as she has been told them, make little sense to Sophie. As she tries to piece together her past she starts to question if those around her, including her husband James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), are keeping her own secrets from her. And when she uncovers an unexpected love triangle, she finds herself on a voyage of self-discovery.
Surface cast — Gugu Mbatha-Raw on playing Sophie
The Morning Show star Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Sophie, a woman with amnesia grappling to make sense of her past.
Gugu says: "It’s hard to say much about Sophie as a character because when we first meet her, she doesn’t really know anything about herself and that’s the mystery of her really. Essentially Sophie is the mystery of the thriller. She lives in this very privileged and perfect world with a seemingly perfect marriage and seemingly perfect house but she goes on to discover that all is not as it seems, and she learns who she is.
"We subvert the usual damsel in distress tropes with Sophie. She becomes empowered as the series goes on. She’s lost her sense of self, lost her memories and is looking at everyone around her to define her but then, ultimately, she has to dig deep within to find her own autonomy. There are themes of identity but also trust and secrets and loyalty and all of the complications of being in a wounded marriage.
"We did a couple of tank days and I worked with a freediving champion to practise breath holds. It’s pitch black and you can’t see so that was the most terrifying thing for me. I practised in a swimming pool, but the actual sequence was really dark so when you open your eyes you have to trust everyone around you. You’re acting but you can’t even see the camera. So that was a challenge."
She’s also starred in Spooks, Doctor Who, Black Mirror and A Wrinkle in Time. She voiced Plumette in Beauty and the Beast and has also starred in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Loki and The Girl Before. She will also play nurse Mary Seacole in the upcoming movie Seacole.
Oliver Jackson-Cohen on playing James
Surface also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Wilderness) who plays Sophie's husband James.
Oliver says: "It’s a stressful and delicious rollercoaster. Just when you think you know a character the show then flips and throws you a curveball. It’s all about trust. Can you trust this person and believe what they are saying? And just when you think you do, something else comes along.
"There’s this idea of the secrets that we keep. The secrets we keep from ourselves because we can’t face them, the secrets we keep in relationships, the tension that that creates and how truth always has to come out. There’s this moral question that if we have the chance to start again are we pre-destined to make the same mistakes?"
Who else is starring in Surface?
Surface also stars Stephan James (Selma), Ari Graynor (Bad Teacher), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Broadchurch and Blindspot), François Arnaud (Blindspot) and Millie Brady (The Last Kingdom) round out the cast.
More about Surface
Surface is produced for Apple TV Plus by Apple Studios and Hello Sunshine by Veronica West, who created and wrote the original series. She also serves as executive producer and showrunner while Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter are also executive producers.
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