Remember “Extrapolations”? Scott Z. Burns’ highly anticipated anthology series for Apple TV+ on climate change with a galaxy of famous faces sat on the shelves for two years until it was released in March this year with zero promotion and just as much public interest. Meryl Streep’s top billing for the series turned out to be a two-scene cameo in the show’s second episode. It was a very disappointing affair for a show that tackles most of the most important issues of our time. It would have been great to learn more on why exactly this prestige project went so under the radar and why its topped billed stars chose not to speak about it ahead of its release. Maybe we have to wait a couple of years for this. In the meantime – better late than never – enjoy screencaptures of Meryl’s appearance, with many thanks to David for sending them in. Much appreciated.

Most outlets have released their reviews on “Extrapolations”, which will air on AppleTV+ from March 17. They all range from well-meaning mixed to positive, resulting in 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. There’s not much written about Meryl Streep’s performance throughout these reviews, so we can assume her role as Sienna Miller’s mother (and also voicing the world’s last hunchback whale), is brief. Here’s a compilation of reviews:

The Hollywood Reporter, Angie Han (March 15, 2023)
The series [is] serious, heavy and mostly lacking in nuance. The urgency of its message is self-evidently important enough that no expense has been spared in delivering it. The cast is star-studded, and the production design lavish. But all this gravitas comes at the expense of the human characters who should be at the center of its stories, turning the series into a well-intentioned but mostly dry series of discussions.

The Chicago Tribune, Nina Metz (March 16, 2023)
I like that “Extrapolations” is asking serious questions. It’s not a hectoring approach but one designed to be entertaining, its themes delivered in a gleaming package filled with boldface names: Meryl Streep, Kit Harington, Diane Lane, Gemma Chan, David Schwimmer, Keri Russell and more. The series is conspicuously focused on either the comfortably middle class or the ultrarich, the latter of whom are forever manipulating the levers of power and global resource management. The people who experience the worst effects of these decisions, losing access to water or livable environments, are mostly an abstraction. It makes you wonder who the target audience for this series actually is – and whether it will have its intended effect.

The Telegraph, Jasper Rees (March 10, 2023)
Extrapolations does sometimes compel. But when opposing speechifiers go at it hammer and tongs about causes, effects and solutions, it can drag like a long night at the debating soc. “Is there anything you need?” a young woman is asked as she prepares to speak about the failure of the Paris Agreement in 2015. “For people to listen,” she replies. The inconvenient truth for this valiant, tub-thumping act of the imagination is that it preaches to the silo.

In a first look video clip by Entertainment Weekly, Sienna Miller informs Meryl Streep that she is the last humpback whale on Earth. Miller and Streep’s debut episode, “2046,” presents an abysmal hereafter where animals, including tigers and orangutans, are extinct. Miller portrays Rebecca, an archivist who studies the extinctions and works to preserve the animals’ memories, while Streep – without giving too much away – is not merely a whale per se, but Rebecca’s late mother, Eve. While an email from Burns containing an enticing P.S. that Streep would play her mother was enough for Miller to say yes to the project script unseen, it helped that the source material centered on a topic that she already cares deeply about. “When you’re dealing with such an enormous crisis of climate and also climate change denial – especially having lived in America throughout the last presidential reign, and having seen the documentaries, many of which Scott was involved with – there’s a lot that can be said from watching documentaries and dealing with hard facts,” Miller tells EW. “Extrapolations” debuts March 17 on Apple TV+ with three episodes, followed by weekly episodes on Fridays until April 21. The complete article and video clip can be found over at Entertainment Weekly.

Promotion for “Extrapolations” is slowly starting (it better hurries up, since the first three episodes premiere this Friday) with a featurette: “Extrapolations” is a bracing drama from writer, director and executive producer Scott Z. Burns that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives. Eight interwoven stories about love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population. Every story is different, but the fight for our future is universal. And when the fate of humanity is up against a ticking clock, the battle between courage and complacency has never been more urgent. Are we brave enough to become the solution to our own undoing before it’s too late? The series stars Meryl Streep, Sienna Miller, Kit Harington, Daveed Diggs, Edward Norton, Diane Lane, Tahar Rahim, Yara Shahidi, Matthew Rhys, Gemma Chan, David Schwimmer, Adarsh Gourav, Keri Russell, Marion Cotillard, Forest Whitaker, Eiza González, Murray Bartlett, Indira Varma, Tobey Maguire, MaameYaa Boafo, Hari Nef, Heather Graham, Michael Gandolfini, Cherry Jones, Gaz Choudhry, Ben Harper, Judd Hirsch and Neska Rose.

Apple TV+ today released the trailer for the highly-anticipated, star-studded, climate change-themed limited series “Extrapolations” featuring Meryl Streep, Sienna Miller and an all-star cast. The eight-episode series from writer-director-exec producer Scott Z. Burns premieres globally over the streamer with the first three episodes on March 17, followed by a new streaming episode every Friday through April 21. The massive star power of the series includes Oscar winners Streep, Forest Whitaker and Marion Cotillard along with Miller, Diane Lane, Judd Hirsch, Cherry Jones, David Schwimmer. Heather Graham, Tobey Maguire, Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Kit Harington and many others. Told over a series of interconnected episodes and produced by Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res, it’s described as a “bracing limited series that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives. Eight interwoven stories about love love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population.”

We are blessed this week with news on Meryl Streep’s upcoming productions with not only “Only Murders in the Building”, but also a first look at “Extrapolations”, which will premiere on AppleTV+ on March 17, 2023. While there haven’t been any news on the 8-part miniseries since its press release in November 2021, I was wondering if Meryl was really involved with the project after all. With today’s first look images and synopsis, I’m happily proven wrong. So far, we know that Meryl’s character is named Eve Shearer and that she plays Sienna Miller’s mother. The series boasts a powerhouse cast including Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, Diane Lane, Kit Harrington, Marion Cotillard, Daveed Diggs, Edward Norton, Gemma Chan, David Schwimmer and Matthew Rhys. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

“Extrapolations” is a bracing drama from writer, director and executive producer Scott Z. Burns that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives. Eight interwoven stories about love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population. Every story is different, but the fight for our future is universal. And when the fate of humanity is up against a ticking clock, the battle between courage and complacency has never been more urgent. Are we brave enough to become the solution to our own undoing before it’s too late?

“Extrapolations”, the climate change anthology series that will be coming to Apple TV+, has added even more stars to its cast. Today, it was announced that Edward Norton, Indira Varma, Keri Russell, Cherry Jones, and Michael Gandolfini will be joining the cast of this Scott Z. Burns show, Variety reports. Norton will play a scientist named Jonathan Chopin. Playing the role of Jonathan’s son, Rowan Chopin, will be Gandolfini. Varma will portray an inventor named Gita Mishra. Russell, known for her starring roles in The Americans and Felicity, will play Olivia Drew, a gun for hire. Jones will portray the president of the United States, Elizabeth Burdick. The new list of cast members comes hot on the heels of the original announcement that Meryl Streep, Sienna Miller, Kit Harrington, Tahar Rahim, Matthew Rhys, Daveed Diggs, Gemma Chan, David Schwimmer, and Adarsh Gourav would be the leading stars in the series. Extrapolations will take 8 interconnected episodes to delve into how impending changes to the planet will ultimately affect every aspect of the way people experience life in ways such as love, faith, work, and family.

We don’t know yet what Streep’s role will be in the series, but we do know about the others. Miller will play a marine biologist named Rebecca Shearer, Harrington will portray CEO Nick Bilton who will be the head of an industrial behemoth, Rahim will play Ezra Haddad who is a man struggling with memory loss, while Rhys will portray Junior, a real estate developer. Diggs will take over the part of Marshall Zucher, a rabbi in South Florida, Chan will play Natasha Alper, a single mother and micro-finance banker, and Schwimmer will play Harris Goldblatt. All we know about Schwimmer’s character is that he is a man with a teenage daughter. Gourav will play a driver for hire ironically named Gaurav. The series sounds like it will tie everyone together by the end as they all grapple with the constant changes in climate and what that means for their own lives. Extrapolations does not yet have a release date.

Great news according to The Hollywood Reporter: Apple TV+ has lined up a star-studded cast for a climate change anthology series. Meryl Streep, Kit Harington and Matthew Rhys will head the ensemble for Extrapolations, an eight-episode drama from writer Scott Z. Burns and The Morning Show production company Media Res. The cast also includes Sienna Miller, Gemma Chan, Tahar Rahim, Daveed Diggs, David Schwimmer and Adarsh Gourav, with additional actors to be announced. Extrapolations, which is currently in production, will tell interconnected stories about how the upcoming changes to the planet will affect love, faith work and family. “The only thing we know for sure about the future is that we are all going there together — and we’re taking with us our hopes, our fears, our appetites, our creativity, our capacity for love and our predilection to cause pain,” said Burns. “These are the same tools that storytellers have been using since the beginning of time. Our show is just using them to keep time from running out.” Miller will play a marine biologist. Harington plays the CEO of an industrial giant. Rahim plays a man struggling with memory loss. Rhys will play a real estate developer. Diggs (Snowpiercer) plays a rabbi in South Florida. Chan plays a single mother and micro-finance banker. Schwimmer plays the father of a teenage daughter. Gourav plays a driver for hire. Details of Streep’s role, her first series work since HBO’s Big Little Lies in 2019, are being kept under wraps.