''Surface'' is an American

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

television series created by

Veronica West Veronica West (née Becker) is an American television producer and writer. Her credits include ''Mercy'', '' Brothers & Sisters'', '' GCB'', ''Hart of Dixie'' and '' State of Affairs''. In 2007, she won a Writers Guild of America, West Award for ...

for

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

. It stars

Gugu Mbatha-Raw Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw, MBE (; born 21 April 1983) is an English actress. She began acting at the National Youth Music Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and gained acclaim for her roles as Juliet in ''Romeo and Juliet'' and O ...

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 an apparent suicide attempt in which she jumps from a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

ferry, Sophie Ellis suffers from

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...

. She starts a new life with her husband, James, a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

ist, 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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

resurface, she orchestrates her own death. Adopting the identity of Tess, Sophie returns to England to uncover more about her past.

Cast

Main

as Sophie Ellis / Tess Caldwell, a woman whose memory has become fragmented following an apparent suicide attempt. *

Oliver Jackson-Cohen Oliver Mansour Jackson-Cohen (born 24 October 1986) is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the Netflix horror television series '' The Haunting of Hill House'' (2018) and '' The Haunting of Bly Manor'' (2020), as well as for his role ...

as James Ellis, Sophie's husband, works at a high profile investment firm, Ascendant. *

Millie Brady Camilla Eve Brady is an English actress and model. She is best known for portraying Æthelflæd in the Netflix drama series '' The Last Kingdom'' (2017–2022). She also appeared in the film ''Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'' (2016) and the App ...

as Eliza Huntley, a woman from Tess' past who lives in London. (Season 2) *

Ari Graynor Ariel Geltman Graynor (born April 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the television series ''The Sopranos'' (2001), ''Fringe'' (2009-2010), ''Bad Teacher'' (2014), '' I'm Dying Up Here'' (2017), and '' Monsters: ...

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 Marianne Raigipcien Jean-Baptiste (born 26 April 1967) is an English actress. She is known for her role in Mike Leigh's drama film ''Secrets & Lies (film), Secrets & Lies'' (1996), for which she received acclaim and earned nominations for the A ...

as Hannah, Sophie's therapist. (Season 1) * Stephan James as Thomas Baden, an undercover cop having an affair with Sophie. (Season 1) *

Phil Dunster Philip James Dunster is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the Sky One drama '' Strike Back'' (2017–2018), the Channel 4 science fiction series ''Humans'' (2018), the ITV comedy-drama '' The Trouble with Maggie Cole'' (2020), the ...

as Quinn Huntley, Eliza's brother, and future heir to the Huntley estate. (Season 2) *

Gavin Drea Gavin Drea (born February 1990) is an Irish actor and comedian. He is known for his roles in the RTÉ series ''Love/Hate (TV series), Love/Hate'' (2011), ''Resistance (miniseries), Resistance'' (2019), the BBC drama ''My Mother and Other Stranger ...

as Callum Walsh, an investigative journalist, for the news magazine The Brittanian, pursuing a story involving the Huntley estate. (Season 2) *

Rupert Graves Rupert Simeon Graves (born 30 June 1963) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. He is known for his roles in '' A Room with a View'', '' Maurice'', '' The Madness of King George'' and '' The Forsyte Saga''. From 2010 to 2017 he sta ...

as Henry Huntley, son of William Huntley, father of Quin and Eliza, current patriarch of the Huntley estate. (Season 2) *

Tara Fitzgerald Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald (born 1967)is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage. She won the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 as Ophelia in ''Hamlet' ...

as Anna Huntley, Henry Huntley's sister. (Season 2) *

Nina Sosanya Oluwakemi Nina Sosanya (born 6 June 1969) is an English stage, television, film, and radio actress, and narrator. She is most notable for her roles in ''Teachers'', '' W1A'', and '' Last Tango in Halifax''. Early life and education Oluwakemi N ...

as Julia, Callum Walsh's boss at The Brittanian (Season 2) *

Joely Richardson Joely Kim Richardson (born 9 January 1965) is a British actress. She is notable for her roles as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series '' Nip/Tuck'' (2003–2010) and Katherine Parr in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' (2010). Her credits in ...

as Olivia, Henry Huntley's wife (Season 2) *

Freida Pinto Freida Selena Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she resolved at a young age to become an actress. As a student at St. Xavier's Colle ...

as Grace, Quin Huntley's fiancee. (Season 2)

Recurring

* Christin Park as Victoria * Markian Tarasiuk as Elliot, a mutual friend of Sophie and James. (Season 1) * Andres Joseph as Todd, another employee at Ascendant with a drug habit. (Season 1) * John Macmillan as Richard Wilcox, the Huntleys' attorney. (Season 2) * Nicholas Karimi as Lucas, security and surveillance operator, frequently employed by the Huntleys. (Season 2) * Isabella Laughland as Claire, Callum Walsh's research assistant. (Season 2) *

Callie Cooke Callie Cooke (born 23 October 1993) is a British actress. She was nominated for an ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Award in 2015. On television, she is best known for her role in the BBC Two comedy '' Henpocalypse!'' (2023). Early life and educati ...

as Margot, Eliza's new girlfriend (Season 2) *

Julian Glover Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is an English actor with many stage, television, and film roles. Classically trained, he is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has performed many times for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Gl ...

as William Huntley, Elder patriarch of the Huntleys. (Season 2) * Mina Andala as Katherine, former employee of the Huntley estate, a family friend of Sophie's. (Season 2) * Billy Dunmore as Nicholas, a bartender in London. (Season 2) * Abigail Weinstock as Katie, Quin's secretary. (Season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2022)

Season 2 (2025)

Production

The project was given a straight to series order in November 2020, with

set to star as well as serve as a co-executive producer. In June 2021,

, Stephan James,

, François Arnaud and

were added to the cast. Filming for the series had begun by July 1, 2021, in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. 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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

were added to the cast between April and May 2023.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 53% approval rating with an average rating of 6.3/10, based on 17 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "

'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 Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 47 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{Apple TV+ 2020s American drama television series 2022 American television series debuts American thriller television series Apple TV+ original programming Television shows set in San Francisco Television shows filmed in California Television shows filmed in Vancouver Canadian English-language television shows Psychological thriller television series Fiction about amnesia Television shows about suicide