The Crowded Room: How Many Episodes Are In The Tom Holland Miniseries?
There's been a lot of talk about the latest streaming offering from Apple TV+ since it hit the platform. And if you've been tracking all the news reports and social media chatter surrounding "The Crowded Room," you know not all the talk has been positive. Critics in particular have not been kind to "The Crowded Room," with star Tom Holland telling The Hollywood Reporter the reviews felt like "a kick in the teeth."
Holland has, of course, also been very vocal about just how much energy he put into the series, saying that when it wrapped he needed to take a lengthy break from acting. If you've seen him in "The Crowded Room," it's not hard to understand why as the role of Danny Sullivan easily ranks among the heaviest the "Spider-Man" actor has tackled so far in his career. And as Holland also served as an executive producer on the series, he no doubt has as much going on behind-the-scenes on "The Crowded Room" as he did on-screen leading the cast.
"The Crowded Room" runs for 10 episodes. They range from just over 40 minutes to an hour in length, and the harrowing story Holland and company are telling in the show is set to wrap up with a July 28 finale. As "The Crowded Room" is a limited series, that's all the episodes fans will ever get.
The Crowded Room packs a ton of hard-hitting drama into 10 episodes
Given the less-than-favorable critical reaction to "The Crowded Room," some folks who were initially interested in the series might be wavering a bit about going all-in on the show — even with a limited 10-episode commitment. If you count yourself among them, you should know that the series currently boasts a 90% Fresh rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. So even if the issues raised by critics are on point, other viewers are clearly enjoying the drama for what it is.
And what "The Crowded Room" is trying to be is a hard-hitting mental health thriller partially inspired by a shocking true story. The series was created by Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind" scribe Akiva Goldsman and is loosely based on the 1981 nonfiction novel "The Minds of Billy Milligan." If you're unfamiliar with that tome, Billy Milligan's story is a genuinely compelling and unsettling one. Milligan was arrested in 1979 and accused of truly heinous crimes. He did, however, eventually become the first person in U.S. history to be acquitted after pleading that they have dissociative identity disorder.
Names and alleged crimes have been changed in "The Crowded Room" in hopes of making the central figure a touch more sympathetic in the eyes of viewers. Given the overwhelmingly positive response from audience members, the tactic is working. And in case there were any questions, Goldsman and company keep the action beyond taut throughout the series' first few episodes. There's little question they'll continue to do so as "The Crowded Room" barrels toward its July 28 finale.