Alfonso Cuarón And J.J. Abrams’ Believe Just Became Your Most Anticipated New TV Show
This article is more than 2 years old
Most of us are excited for Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming space adventure Gravity, and for good reason, the film looks incredible. Sure, it may require some of us to take a tab of Dramamine before going to the theater, but the George Clooney, Sandra Bullock vehicle looks fantastic. But that’s not all he’s working on, and not all we need to put on our must-see lists. The Mexican-born director has teamed with Star Trek Into Darkness helmer J.J. Abrams for a his first TV series, Believe. At San Diego Comic-Con he made a surprise appearance and gave the audience a first look at this great new trailer.
We’ve been keeping a close eye on Believe, which was picked up by NBC, mostly because of the people involved. After viewing this trailer, however, we’re watching because the show looks really damn good. Cuarón co-created the show with Mark Friedman, who recently departed the show, and he also directed the pilot episode. His style and aesthetic sensibilities are on full display in this video. Watch that first shot and try not to think of the car scene from Cuarón’s Children of Men.
Believe is the story of a young girl, Bo (Johnny Sequoyah), who has special powers. In seven years these will manifest and she will be able to defeat the evil forces in the world. Until then, a death row inmate named Tate (Jake McLaughlin), a man with a violent history, is tasked with protecting her. A mysterious network, led by a man called Winter (Delroy Lindo) and his assistant Channing (Jamie Chung), aid in their quest. They step in when Bo and Tate need a helping hand.
While this video doesn’t show us much of the shadowy forces that hunt them, we do know that the conspiracy involves an assassin played by Sienna Guillory, who reportedly has some serious mommy issues. It’ll be interesting to see how this manifests. Kyle MacLachlan is also in the cast, and he’s the kind of actor that could go either way, good or bad, and we’re not sure which end of spectrum he’s on in Believe. We do see that the villains have a far-reaching grasp, and that they’re willing to use it with violent results.
We also get to see some of the magical things that happen around Bo, as well as get a glimpse of what her life with Tate may look like. It’s easy to imagine that they’re constantly on the move, from one place to another, just getting settled into a routine and a life before they’re forced to move on.
This doesn’t feel like your typical television fare, balancing action, drama, and the strange. At least the pilot is cinematic in scope and style, and after watching this trailer, this has climbed to near the top of my most anticipated new shows for the 2013-2014 TV season. Unfortunately we won’t get to see Believe for a while longer, as NBC has it scheduled as a midseason replacement in 2014.
