Solos - What We Know So Far
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Between "Coming 2 America," "The Boys," "Borat 2," and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," Amazon Prime has carved out a neat place for itself as a streaming service with an eclectic menagerie of content. Their next big project set for release: "Solos," the highbrow anthology series that boldly asks the question, "What do you suppose 'Solos' is about?"
"Solos" comes straight from the mind of David Weil, the creator of Amazon's "Hunters" and writer for the latest incarnation of "The Twilight Zone." When the show's first trailer hit YouTube on May 10, it did exactly what it was supposed to do, drumming up interest in the forthcoming series while showing off its star-studded cast. Its seven-episode run features scripts from Weil himself and "Watchmen's" Stacy Osei-Kuffour, with directors like Sam Taylor-Johnson ("Nowhere Boy") and Zach Braff ("Ted Lasso" and, if you'd prefer, "Garden State") taking the reins on individual stories. Here, let's take a look at what we know about "Solos" so far and what we can expect when it hits Prime Video later this month.
When will Solos be released?
It goes without saying that the majority of big productions have been put through the wringer in the last year and a half, with release date pushbacks becoming the rule rather than the exception. "Black Widow" may or may not exist at this point, and Daniel Craig is stuck in a state of suspended career animation, somewhere between finally retiring from the "Bond" franchise and remaining the world's perpetual 007 while we wait for "No Time To Die" to finally drop.
That said, "Solos" appears to be a project born of the pandemic show business' new normal, not in spite of it, with Variety reporting that shooting ran from October to November 2020. The series is on track to debut on its predetermined release date of May 21, 2021.
Even better, all seven episodes of "Solos" will hit Prime Video simultaneously, facilitating a full Friday evening of high-concept binge-watching for curious subscription holders.
Who stars in Amazon's Solos?
Plenty of details about the series are going to stay hazy until it premieres, but there's at least one aspect of "Solos" that we can confidently report: The cast is absolutely stacked.
Top billing goes to Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, and Anne Hathaway, two of whom have seen Batman up close in a professional capacity. Uzo Aduba, the Emmy-winning star of "Orange is the New Black," "Mrs. America," and, crucially, cameo performer in "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip," also appears in an episode. Anthony Mackie, the MCU's latest Captain America, performs against himself in dual roles, with the trailer for "Solos" refraining from crediting him as "Anthony Mackie and Anthony Mackie," demonstrating, decorum, restraint, and an overall lack of "Austin Powers in Goldmember" energy.
Nicole Beharie, star of "Sleepy Hollow?" Present. Dan Stevens from "Downton Abbey" and FX's criminally underappreciated "Legion?" Very much part of the proceedings. SAG award and Golden Globe nominee Constance Wu? You'd better believe she's in the mix. It's the sort of cast that would make any filmmaker see green, and it'll be thrilling to see what this powerhouse ensemble will do with the material.
What is Solos about?
This is where things get tricky.
"Solos" creator David Weil described his series to The Hollywood Reporter as a collection of "stories about connection, hope and the search for that common hum of humanity that binds us all." Amazon's synopsis of the show boasts that it "explores the strange, beautiful, heart-breaking, hilarious, wondrous truths of what it means to be human" and "illuminates that even during our most isolated moments we are all connected through the human experience." It's all terribly poetic, but it doesn't give us much to go on, narratively speaking. Do any of the characters have superpowers? Is there a Death Star in need of exploding? And if the answer to both of these questions is "no," does "Solos" even count as entertainment?
The anthology's trailer doesn't offer many hints, either. We see Helen Mirren in what certainly appears to be a spaceship, Anthony Mackie talking, very literally, to himself, Morgan Freeman chilling on his beach sofa, and Anne Hathaway getting bummed right out in the middle of a light bulb collection. Unfortunately for spoiler enthusiasts, it looks like we'll have to wait until the series hits Amazon Prime to put all of these vignettes in their proper context.