Surface (2022 TV series)

Surface
Genre	Psychological thriller
Created by	Veronica West
Starring	Gugu Mbatha-Raw Oliver Jackson-Cohen Ari Graynor François Arnaud Millie Brady Marianne Jean-Baptiste Stephan James
Composer	Ólafur Arnalds
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producers	Gugu Mbatha-Raw Sam Miller Veronica West Reese Witherspoon Lauren Neustadter
Producers	Ashley Strumwasser Jon Wu Jim O'Grady
Cinematography	Tami Reiker Elie Smolkin Claudine Sauvé
Editors	Matthew Ramsey Rebecca Valente Victoria Grimsley
Running time	43–53 minutes
Production companies	West Picture Co. Hello Sunshine
Original release
Network	Apple TV+
Release	July 29, 2022 (2022-7-29) – present

Surface is a American psychological thriller television series created by Veronica West for Apple TV+. It stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Sophie Ellis, a woman suffering from extreme memory loss after a supposed suicide attempt. As she tries to rebuild her life, she begins to suspect that what she has been told about her past may not be true.

The series premiered on July 29, 2022. In December 2022, it was renewed for a second season, which began airing on February 21, 2025.

Synopsis

After a suicide attempt in which she jumps from a San Francisco ferry, Sophie Ellis suffers from amnesia. She starts a new life with her husband, James, a venture capitalist, but struggles to recall the events that led to her memory loss. She discovers she had been having an affair with Thomas Baden, an undercover policeman, and is persuaded by Baden that James has been embezzling funds from his firm. However, as her memories gradually return, Sophie uncovers the truth: she herself had stolen the money and hidden it in an account under the name of Tess Caldwell.

As Sophie’s recollections of her past life in England resurface, she returns the stolen funds to James and orchestrates her own death. Adopting the identity of Tess, Sophie returns to England to uncover more about her past.

Cast

Main

• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Sophie Ellis / Tess Caldwell, a woman whose memory has become fragmented following an apparent suicide attempt.
• Oliver Jackson-Cohen as James Ellis, Sophie's husband, works at a high profile investment firm, Ascendant.
• Millie Brady as Eliza
• Ari Graynor as Caroline, Sophie's "best friend." (Season 1)
• François Arnaud as Harrison, James's friend who also works at Ascendant. (Season 1)
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Hannah, Sophie's therapist. (Season 1)
• Stephan James as Thomas Baden, an undercover cop having an affair with Sophie. (Season 1)
• Phil Dunster as Quinn (Season 2)
• Gavin Drea as Callum Walsh (Season 2)
• Rupert Graves as Henry Huntley (Season 2)
• Tara Fitzgerald as Anna Huntley (Season 2)
• Nina Sosanya as Julia (Season 2)
• Joely Richardson as Olivia (Season 2)
• Freida Pinto as Grace (Season 2)

Recurring

• Christin Park as Victoria
• Markian Tarasiuk as Elliot, a mutual friend of Sophie and James.
• Andres Joseph as Todd, another employee at Ascendant with  a drug habit.
• Callie Cooke as Margot (Season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
1	8		July 29, 2022 (2022-7-29)	September 2, 2022 (2022-9-2)
2	8		February 21, 2025 (2025-2-21)	April 11, 2025 (2025-4-11)

Season 1 (2022)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Ictus"	Sam Miller	Veronica West	July 29, 2022 (2022-7-29)
2	2	"Muscle Memory"	Sam Miller	Erica L. Anderson	July 29, 2022 (2022-7-29)
3	3	"New Person, Same Old Mistakes"	Kevin Rodney Sullivan	Tony Saltzman	July 29, 2022 (2022-7-29)
4	4	"Psychogenic"	Kevin Rodney Sullivan	Glenise Mullins & Leigh Ann Biety	August 5, 2022 (2022-8-5)
5	5	"It Comes in Waves"	Sam Miller	Dan Lee West	August 12, 2022 (2022-8-12)
6	6	"The Myth of California"	Sam Miller	Leigh Ann Biety & Raven Jackson	August 19, 2022 (2022-8-19)
7	7	"It Was Always Going to End This Way"	Jennifer Morrison	Martín Zimmerman	August 26, 2022 (2022-8-26)
8	8	"See You on the Other Side"	Tucker Gates	Story by : Dan Lee West & Veronica West Teleplay by : Veronica West	September 2, 2022 (2022-9-2)

Season 2 (2025)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
9	1	"New Money"	Ed Lilly	Veronica West	February 21, 2025 (2025-2-21)
10	2	"Speak of the Devil"	Ed Lilly	Lillian Yu	February 28, 2025 (2025-2-28)
11	3	"Kintsugi"	Ed Lilly	Peter Calloway	March 7, 2025 (2025-3-7)
12	4	"Legacy"	Jon East	Dan Lee West	March 14, 2025 (2025-3-14)
13	5	"Daybreak"	TBA	Cortney Norris	March 21, 2025 (2025-3-21)
14	6	TBA	TBA	Peter Calloway	March 28, 2025 (2025-3-28)
15	7	TBA	TBA	Dan Lee West	April 4, 2025 (2025-4-4)
16	8	TBA	TBA	Veronica West	April 11, 2025 (2025-4-11)

Production

The project was given a straight to series order in November 2020, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw set to star as well as serve as a co-executive producer. In June 2021, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Stephan James, Ari Graynor, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, François Arnaud and Millie Brady were added to the cast. Filming for the series had begun by July 1, 2021, in Vancouver.

The series premiered on July 29, 2022, with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis. On December 2, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with production moving to London. Phil Dunster and Freida Pinto were added to the cast between April and May 2023.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 53% approval rating with an average rating of 6.3/10, based on 17 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Gugu Mbatha-Raw's captivating performance gives Surface some depth, but this overheated potboiler only gets murkier the more it tries to spice up a derivative amnesia mystery." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 47 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

External links

• Surface at IMDb