Hit or Miss: Apple TV+’s ‘Roar’

Apple TV+ has released the trailer for its upcoming anthology series titled Roar. Created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch of GLOW, it’s based on the 2018 short story collection of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. It contains 8-episodes set to air on Apple TV+ on April 15, 2022. Ahern’s short story collection received positive reviews according to the book review aggregator Book Marks based on nine independent reviews. Kirkus Reviews called it “a sharp, breathtaking collection of fables.”

It was announced in August 2018 that Flahive and Mensch were show running the series, then in early development. It is produced by Nicole Kidman and Per Saari’s Blossom Films, Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories, and Theresa Park. In addition, Ahern’s Greenlight Go Productions and Endeavor Content are also attached to produce. This series marks Flahive and Mensch’s first project under their new overall deal with the streamer.

The casting of Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Merritt Weaver, and Alison Brie was announced on March 2, 2021, along with the anthological structure of the show with Betty Gilpin, Meera Syal, Fivel Stewart, and Kara Hayward joining the cast in August 2021. It began production in Los Angeles, California on May 28, 2021, and concluded on August 1, 2021.

The series centers on a different story in each episode that shines a spotlight on women’s experiences, and more importantly, how women navigate through others’ perceptions of them as well as their own. In doing so, it highlights what it means to be a woman. Here is an excerpt of the description from Grand Central Publishing that was attached to the collection in 2019:

One woman is tortured by sinister bite marks that appear on her skin; another is swallowed up by the floor during a mortifying presentation; yet another resolves to return and exchange her boring husband at the store where she originally acquired him. The women at the center of this curious universe learn that their reality is shaped not only by how others perceive them but also by how they perceive the power within themselves. 

The trailer opens on Kidman as she looks at a photo of a young girl. From the start, the viewers are taken into this world with beautiful production design tied together with the sunlight beaming through a window establishing a flash-back home environment. A brief smile, in addition to an elongated note, is suddenly cut off with Kidman eating the photo. This series seems like it’ll be a rollercoaster of emotions and the constant question of “why”.

An extreme close-up of Kidman’s eyes with a flash of light acts as a transition while it also makes the viewers question what she is looking at. With her eyes fixated on something to the right of the camera, what motivated her to eat the picture? A brief flash of warm light on the right side of her face shifts the mood to a more dream-like euphoric environment contrasting what was set in the first 6 seconds.

It then cuts to Erivo, recently announced to star in Jon Chu’s Wicked, saying goodbye to her family due to a work trip for Layman Capital Group. While everything seems perfect in her life, her attention quickly changes to what looks to be a bite mark in her skin. These stories seem to be drastically different from each other, however, rooted in different experiences. A quick montage shows each female character before diving into their own personal life. From what is shown in the trailer, the sets are an essential part of this series, highlighting their different lives. From a house overlooking the city skyline to what looks like a giant mansion, each character has their own story to tell.

Brief text introduces them with, “the woman who ate photographs, the woman who returned her husband, the woman who solved her own murder, the girl who loved horses, the woman who was fed by a duck, [and] the woman who found bite marks on her skin.” The clips that followed start to answer the questions that viewers may have faced in the first minute. The light that flashed over her eyes seems to be a visceral experience through eating photos while Erivo may be receiving the bite marks from her son.

From the looks of it, this series bounces back and forth between different fictional societies. This dark comedy spans genres from magical realism to psychological horror, placing ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances to highlight a universal struggle. With its star-studded cast, this series looks as though it’ll be a hit if you can follow the different jumps in genre. Be on the lookout for its premiere on April 15, 2022, on Apple TV+.