Everything Coming to Apple TV+ When It Launches on November 1
Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jason Momoa, Hailee Steinfeld and Kumail Nanjiani all have shows on the new platform.
With Netflix, Amazon Prime, Crave and other streaming services available at the tap of a button, there’s no shortage of access to quality film and television programming. Now, Apple is throwing its hat in the ring with Apple TV+, a new video subscription service, and a seriously impressive lineup that hits screens on November 1.
Apple TV+’s monthly subscription fee is $5.99 (CAD) and will be available on the Apple TV app worldwide on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, Mac and other platforms, including online at tv.apple.com with a seven-day free trial.
The service’s upcoming slate of programming includes projects by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Octavia Spencer, J.J. Abrams, Jason Momoa, M. Night Shyamalan, Jon M. Chu and more. Read on for a complete list of everything hitting the platform on November 1, as well as upcoming fall releases.
The Morning Show
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell, this hour-long drama explores the world of morning news and the ego, ambition and power dynamics behind the people who help America wake up in the morning. The series sees Aniston and Witherspoon figuring their way forward in a post-#MeToo landscape, after Carell is fired for sexual misconduct. Taking inspiration from real-life morning show hosts and scandals, the show “highlight[s] aspects of the archetype of a charming narcissist, of a generation of men that didn’t think that was bad behaviour,” Aniston tells Variety.
See
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and directed by The Hunger Games’ Francis Lawrence, this epic drama sets Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard in a dystopian world 600 years in the future. When Momoa took the stage at Apple Park to announce the show this past March, he invited the audience to participate in a simple exercise: to close their eyes. “Try to think about the world this way,” he instructed, as ambient forest noises were projected through the theatre, “heard, touched, smelled, sensed—but without sight.” That, in a nutshell, is the premise of the show: after a virus has decimated humankind and rendered the remaining population blind, survivors must adapt and find new ways to navigate the post-apocalyptic world.
Dickinson
This dark comedy “explores the constraints of society, gender and family through the lens of rebellious young poet, Emily Dickinson.” The coming-of-age story set in the mid-1800s stars Hailee Steinfeld as the titular character and Jane Krakowski as her mother, as well as recurring roles played by Wiz Khalifa, John Mulaney and Matt Lauria.
For All Mankind
This series imagines a world in which the United States loses the Space Race, presenting an alternate timeline in which the USSR is the first country to make it to the moon, leaving NASA devastated. According to Variety, “that single twist unspools a complicated alternate history of U.S. astronauts and politicians alike scrambling to keep up as the Soviet Union laps them on space exploration.”
Helpsters
From the makers of Sesame Street, this new children’s series stars Cody and his team of Helpsters—vibrant monsters who love to solve problems. “Whether it’s planning a party, climbing a mountain, or mastering a magic trick, the Helpsters can figure anything out,” reads the show description.
Snoopy in Space
This series sees Snoopy pursuing his dreams to become an astronaut. Together with Charlie Brown and the Peanuts crew, Snoopy takes command of the International Space Station and jets off to explore the final frontier.
Ghostwriter
A reboot of the ’90s children’s program, this series follows four kids as they are brought together by a mysterious ghost in their neighbourhood bookstore who is releasing fictional characters from works of literature into the real world. According to TV Line, “each episode will focus on a particular literary work, and feature classics and new works commissioned from authors like DJ Machale and Kwame Alexander.”
The Elephant Queen
This wildlife documentary’s filmmakers—Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone—have spent 25 years living in the East African bush, making them the perfect directors for a film that serves as a “cinematic love letter” to a species in danger of extinction. Narrated by Oscar-nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, the documentary follows an elephant matriarch named Athena as she leads her herd across grasslands and woodlands in search of water.
There will also be a lot of TBD Oprah Winfrey content. Along with two documentary projects, one about mental health and one about workplace harassment, Winfrey has announced the launch of “the most stimulating book club on the planet.”
More Apple TV+ originals being added to the app later this fall include:
Servant
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller follows a Philadelphia couple in mourning over the loss of a child. “Their only way to cope is through what Shyamalan called a form of “fringe therapy”: pretending their baby is still alive by replacing her with a doll,” reports IndieWire. The eerie trouble begins when the couple decides to hire a young nanny to take care of their pretend child. The series stars Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free and Rupert Grint.
Truth Be Told
Starring Oscar winner Octavia Spencer and Emmy winner Aaron Paul, this insightful drama explores America’s obsession with true crime podcasts. Spencer plays a podcaster compelled to revisit the murder case that made her a media sensation, while Paul plays the man she helped put behind bars. The series also stars Lizzy Caplan and Mekhi Pfifer.
Little America
Written by Oscar-nominated screenwriters (and real-life couple) Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon, this anthology series is based on the real-life stories of immigrants in America that were featured in Epic Magazine. “It’s not about telling immigrant stories. These are human stories that feature immigrants,” Nanjiani said at Apple Park in March. “When you get to know someone and start to see your struggles in their struggles, your passion in theirs, your problems in theirs, they stop being the ‘other.’”
The Banker
Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson star as two African American entrepreneurs who try to circumvent the racial limitations of the Jim Crow era by devising a risky plan to provide housing loans to the African American community in a town in Texas. The film also stars Nicholas Hoult and Nia Long, and will premiere at the AFI Fest next month.
Hala
After its Sundance premiere and subsequent screening at TIFF this year, this film by Minhal Baig—who has worked on acclaimed TV series like Bojack Horseman and Ramy—was picked up by Apple for wider distribution. It tells the story of a Pakistani-American teenager grappling with her sexuality, faith and Muslim upbringing as she gets ready to graduate from high school.
