Any mission to Mars will involve a lengthy trip out and back, and that long frame of time plays a big role in just about every story about crewed missions to the planet.
It’ll play a big role in an upcoming series from Netflix: Away, which debuted a new trailer today.
The series hails from Penny Dreadful writer Andrew Hinderaker, and stars Hilary Swank as Emma Green, the commander of a multi-national mission to the Red Planet. Her trip will last three years, which puts a considerable amount of strain on her family—her husband Matt Logan (played by Josh Charles) and 15 year old daughter Alexis (played by Talitha Bateman).
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Green has wanted to go to Mars for as long as she can remember, but it looks like there will be some trouble along the way—there are accidents in space, her husband Matt gets sick and collapses, while other crew members are struggling with the long separation from their loved ones. The series also stars Mark Ivanir (as Russian cosmonaut Misha Popov), Ato Essandoh as (British-Ghana botanist Dr. Kwesi Weisberg), Ray Panthaki (as Indian air force pilot Ram Arya), Vivian Wu (as Chinese chemist Lu Wang), and Monique Curnen (as Melissa Ramirez, the mission’s ground control).
The series certainly has the look of an emotional, character-driven drama over an action-adventure film like The Martian or Mission to Mars. Hopefully, it’ll fare better than a similar series that debuted last year—The First, which lasted for a single season on Hulu.
The series will debut on Netflix on September 4th.
