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REVIEW: Feeling bereft now that The Last of Us’ first season finale has now played out? Don’t fret, because an even more thought-provoking and nightmare-inducing drama is about to debut.
The brainchild of the screenwriter who give the world the frighteningly prescient pandemic movie Contagion – Scott Z. Burns – comes a new climate change anthology series that will not evoke memories of Russell T. Davies’ unnerving 2019 UK dystopian masterpiece Years and Years, but is also likely to leave you fearing for our planet’s future.
If the eight-part Extrapolations (whose first three installment drops this Friday, March 17 on Apple TV+) is designed as much as a clarion call as pure engrossing entertainment, then it is a roaring success – this will leave you bothered and bewildered about what’s in store, unless we take action to mitigate the human contribution towards global warning – now.
Apart from striking visuals, haunting visions and a sharp, vital, scientifically sure-footed and hot-button, evolving narrative (every episode – bar one – is set in a different year between 2037 and 2070), it also boasts what is surely one of the most impressive ensembles in television history.
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Meryl Streep, Edward Norton, Diane Lane, Tahar Rahim, Matthew Rhys, Gemma Chan, Eiza Gonzalez, Forest Whitaker, Tobey Maguire, Heather Graham, Keri Russell, Judd Hirsch, David Schwimmer and Marion Cotillard are among the star-studded cast, while Daveed Diggs, Sienna Miller and Kit Harington all have key roles to play in the opening trio of tales set in 2037, 2046 and 2047 respectively.
That first stop, some 14 years from now, revolves around the Cop42 Conference in Tel Aviv. As the global population is about to hit 9 billion, humanity’s problems are compounding. Germany and Italy are losing crops to drought and infestation, nationalist movements are gaining traction in Poland and Austria and while wildfires rage on almost every continent and water shortage cause mass displacement, Greenland’s 79N Glacier is threatening to collapse – a catastrophic event that could put us on course for a 3-metre sea level rise by the end of the century.
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Mia Maestro and Edward Norton are among the star-studded cast whose characters face a seriously uncertain future in Extrapolations.
But while the politicians debate how to now limit the temperatures to a 2-degree Celsius rise, others are seeking to take advantage of the situation. Polarising Alpha Industries CEO Nick Bilson (Harington) is not only part of a proposal to develop the first casino north of the Arctic Circle, he’s also discovered that the area is rich in minerals now attracting astronomical prices on international markets.
“A man whose house is on fire is incredibly easy to negotiate with,” he tells his legal advisor, as he prepares to controversially join the discussions at Cop42.
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Kit Harington plays the Machiavellian Nick Bilson in Extrapolations.
Meanwhile, outside the venue, emotions are running high as young environmental activist Carmen Jalilo (Yara Shahidi) address the crowd via hologram. Sensing the gathered throng’s fears that the meeting’s outcomes may not be what they hoped, she urges them to continue to make their voices heard. “We can’t give up and go home, because this is our only home,” she cries.
It all makes for powerful, provocative television – and we’re just at the start of what is sure to be one of the most talked-about series of 2023.
Extrapolations begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 17.
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