| Surface | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Psychological thriller |
| Created by | Veronica West |
| Starring | |
| Composer | Ólafur Arnalds |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 16 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers |
|
| Cinematography |
|
| Editors |
|
| Running time | 43–53 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | Apple TV+ |
| Release | July 29, 2022 – present |
Surface is an 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.
After an apparent 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. [1] 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 orchestrates her own death. Adopting the identity of Tess, Sophie returns to England to uncover more about her past.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Ictus" | Sam Miller | Veronica West | July 29, 2022 |
| 2 | 2 | "Muscle Memory" | Sam Miller | Erica L. Anderson | July 29, 2022 |
| 3 | 3 | "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" | Kevin Rodney Sullivan | Tony Saltzman | July 29, 2022 |
| 4 | 4 | "Psychogenic" | Kevin Rodney Sullivan | Glenise Mullins & Leigh Ann Biety | August 5, 2022 |
| 5 | 5 | "It Comes in Waves" | Sam Miller | Dan Lee West | August 12, 2022 |
| 6 | 6 | "The Myth of California" | Sam Miller | Leigh Ann Biety & Raven Jackson | August 19, 2022 |
| 7 | 7 | "It Was Always Going to End This Way" | Jennifer Morrison | Martín Zimmerman | August 26, 2022 |
| 8 | 8 | "See You on the Other Side" | Tucker Gates | Story by : Dan Lee West & Veronica West Teleplay by : Veronica West | September 2, 2022 |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "New Money" | Ed Lilly | Veronica West | February 21, 2025 |
| 10 | 2 | "Speak of the Devil" | Ed Lilly | Lillian Yu | February 28, 2025 |
| 11 | 3 | "Kintsugi" | Ed Lilly | Peter Calloway | March 7, 2025 |
| 12 | 4 | "Legacy" | Jon East | Dan Lee West | March 14, 2025 |
| 13 | 5 | "Daybreak" | Lynsey Miller | Cortney Norris | March 21, 2025 |
| 14 | 6 | "Atonement" | Lynsey Miller | Peter Calloway | March 28, 2025 |
| 15 | 7 | "What Comes Around" | Jon East | Dan Lee West | April 4, 2025 |
| 16 | 8 | "Unearthed" | Alrick Riley | Veronica West | April 11, 2025 |
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. [2] In June 2021, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Stephan James, Ari Graynor, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, François Arnaud and Millie Brady were added to the cast. [3] Filming for the series had begun by July 1, 2021, in Vancouver. [4]
The series premiered on July 29, 2022, with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis. [5] On December 2, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with production moving to London. [6] Phil Dunster and Freida Pinto were added to the cast between April and May 2023. [7] [8]
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." [9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 47 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [10]