Apple has released the first trailer for Servant, its upcoming thriller produced by M. Night Shyamalan for the Apple TV+ streaming service.
Apple released the trailer during its panel event at New York Comic Con, and also confirmed the premiere date for the series. Servant will debut globally on Apple TV+ on November 28, just a few weeks after the launch date for the streaming service.
Set to star Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free, and Rupert Grint, Servant was created and written by Tony Basgallop (Inside Men, What Remains) and follows a young couple who let a terrifying force into their lives after suffering a horrible tragedy. Kebbell and Ambrose play the aforementioned young couple, while Free plays the nanny they hire, and Grint plays the brother of Kebbell’s character.
The series will reportedly involve the couple’s use of a fringe coping strategy that has them bring a baby doll into their home and treat it like a living baby, only to end up hiring a nanny to care for the doll. As with any Shyamalan project, mysteries surround many of the characters and concepts introduced in the series.
Basgallop also serves as an executive producer on the series along with Shyamalan, with the latter describing the series as a “sit-thriller” — a psychological thriller told in the short, 30-minute episode format typical of sitcoms.
Shyamalan indicated that he envisions the series as a saga that will unfold over six 10-episode seasons.
“The trailer represents what the show is,” explained Basgallop during the panel. “For me, it all dates back to having kids and the fear that anything can go wrong at any time. I’m clumsy, and you get through it but your life absolutely changes. And whenever you do drama, change is a good thing and you put your characters in uncomfortable positions.”
Apple TV+ will launch November 1, adding yet another subscription-based, direct-to-consumer streaming service to the rapidly growing list of options for cord-cutting TV and movie audiences. Servant will join an impressive list of projects confirmed for the service, including Battlestar Galactica showrunner Ronald D. Moore’s alternate-history series For All Mankind, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon’s morning talk show drama The Morning Show, and Jason Momoa’s post-apocalyptic saga See.
