Extrapolations Review

Extrapolations, the new anthology drama set to debut on AppleTV+ this Friday, is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. And, even for people who can laud its big narrative swings, I suspect it will struggle to find an audience throughout its eight episode running time. That’s not a dig at the performances, the characters, and some of the very impassioned writing that allow elements of this flawed, but sometimes interesting and emotionally compelling, series to sing. But rather, it’s the sad truth of life in 2023.

Extrapolations takes place shortly in the future, with the premiere taking place mostly at a climate summit in 2037. Humanity has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been unable to curb our most destructive tendencies and the planet is on the brink of exceeding the maximum temperature increase that will allow us to keep living comfortably. We see the global politicians squabbling, not wanting to help out those nations who are bearing the brunt of the catastrophe while their richer (and whiter) allies are more than willing to sell out others in order to secure their own futures. There is, of course, a temporary solution on offer: Young billionaire Nicholas Bilton (Kit Harrington, who is bland in a rather bland role) controls the desalination technology that would help save lives in Africa and South America. And he’s willing to sell it for a price.

So, yeah, capitalism, national greed, and other such topics are baked into the premise of the series. Which is where its main issues lay as well. When the series focuses closely on its characters (such as the second episode of the series, which provides a spotlight to Sienna Miller’s animal conservationist character) and puts a human face on the larger global issues the series is tackling, the show works incredibly well. It’s easier, of course, to relate to a single, well-drawn character than to try and wrap your head around international conflicts and a host of characters you don’t see again. But when the series tries to explore the topic of climate change at a macro level, it falls flat and often feels like the show is asking us to sit and listen to a lecture on the potential dangers we face if we keep on this path. And, considering the topic, I suspect the series will be mostly preaching to the choir on this – making the episodes that deal with the capitalistic side of things (and the generally callous characters on this side of the argument) hard to stomach.

The series does follow a core group of characters over the course of several decades, as the finale kicks off in 2070, so you get the opportunity to follow individuals along with the world at large. And the cast is a complete murderer’s row of talent, including Harrington, Miller, Meryl Streep, Daveed Diggs, Matthew Rhys, Keri Russell, Gemma Chan, Tobey Maguire, Edward Norton, Forrest Whittaker, and Cherry Jones, among others. You can tell they all wanted the chance to work with Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, The Inconvenient Truth) on an series that explores such an important topic. I just wish that the series was more focused on providing compelling characters in compelling situations and less on exploring big picture ideas without a strong lens for narrative. This could have been a really interesting series that made a big splash. Instead, its an uneven and at times off-putting series that can’t decide if it wants to be a character-driven drama or a public service announcement. There’s a way to get your message across without letting it subsume your narrative, but Burns can’t seem to manage it, despite also having some of the planet’s best actors at this disposal. And that’s a real disappointment.

Extrapolations premieres on Friday, March 17 on AppleTV+. All eight episodes were provided for review.