Extant Teaser Trailer Is Full Of Life And Eyeballs

By Nick Venable | Published

This article is more than 2 years old


CBS is taking their next sci-fi series, Extant, into space and back this summer, and they’re already starting to tease audiences with what’s to come in the vague-but-interesting preview seen above. It’s no surprise that the network with an eye for a logo would utilize a circular motif for the teaser, but they do manage to work in a large number of intriguing images in just 30 seconds. Let’s take a few minutes to go over some of those images and what they may mean within the context of the show.

First, a synopsis. Extant will center on Molly Watts, an astronaut played by Halle Berry, who is trying to revert back to her normal life after spending a year in space. It’s made more difficult by human history changing course thanks to her off-planet experiences. The show is being produced by Stephen Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, so while the extent of the plot is being kept under wraps, we can make a few assumptions.

Such as the slogan: “Life always finds a way” is a pretty clear callback to Jeff Goldblum’s similar views in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. But instead of dinosaurs, I’m pretty sure we’ll be talking about extraterrestrial life here, even if it isn’t in the form of anthropomorphic aliens. All it takes is a germ or a virus.

The quick bursts of imagery offer more than few clues that back that assumption up. We see a human fetus, which makes me think of the alien baby from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but also a young child. These obviously imply life, and they’re combined with pictures of a tree’s rings, a flower, an eyeball, a heartbeat, the Earth, and a cell splitting apart. Everything about this preview is about life and how it moves on despite obstacles. It’s also pretty clever the way the title transitions from “Extinct” to “Extant.” (Thanks to our sister site CinemaBlend for the GIF seen below.)

extant

What does Molly have inside of her? What life are they talking about? Hopefully these answers and more will be revealed when Extant premieres on CBS this summer. The series, which also stars Camryn Manheim, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Pierce Gagnon, will begin its 13-episode run on Wednesday, July 2.

Here’s the first promo CBS released a couple of days ago. Notice it uses the fetus as its main imagery amid all the name dropping. If this turns into a weird parenting drama, I’m going to be very disappointed. But it’ll still be better than Under the Dome.