New Apple TV+ thriller series 'Surface' to star Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Apple is partnering with Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine production company to develop "Surface," a psychological thriller series set to star Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Created and written by Veronica West, known for co-creating Hulu's adaptation of "High Fidelity," the series is slated to include eight episodes and will begin production next year, reports Variety.

Details are currently unknown, though the show is being billed as a psychological thriller.

Mbatha-Raw will rejoin Apple TV+ after a turn alongside Witherspoon in "The Morning Show." An active actress, Mbatha-Raw is known for her role in the Emmy-winning "Black Mirror" episode "San Junipero" and has played principle roles in series made for streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix. Her feature credits include the "The Cloverfield Paradox," "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Wrinkle in Time," among others.

West, Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter will executive produce "Surface" for Hello Sunshine, while Mbatha-Raw is billed as a co-executive producer. Hello Sunshine is an avid Apple TV+ collaborator, working on "The Morning Show," "Truth Be Told" and upcoming series "My Kind of Country."

Apple Studios is quickly branching out as a production company to undertake ambitious projects with big names. The studio arm is currently working on "High Desert" starring Patricia Arquette, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks World War II mini-series "Masters of the Air," and a detective series from Robert Downey Jr.

6 Comments

22july2013 11 Years · 3736 comments

About 4 years ago

That's an unusual given name. If they could get Lady Gaga to co-star, that would be "Gugu and Gaga." And the theme song for their show should be the Queen song that goes:

All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio gu gu
Radio ga ga

Flytrap 7 Years · 61 comments

22july2013 said:

That's an unusual given name. If they could get Lady Gaga to co-star, that would be "Gugu and Gaga." And the theme song for their show should be the Queen song that goes:
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio gu gu
Radio ga ga

It's a fairly common name here in South Africa...
Gugu is short for Gugulethu (in Zulu), which I suppose could be directly translated to Precious in English.
Mbatha is also a fairly common Zulu surname... not like Smith or Jones, in the UK, but recognisable enough like Green or Roberts.
As for Raw... well... that is something she found somewhere in the UK and tacked onto her name at some point during her journey through life.

bestkeptsecret 13 Years · 4289 comments

Nice! She was very good in Motherless Brooklyn. Looking forward to this.

crowley 15 Years · 10431 comments

Big fan of Gugu, will watch out for this.

Flytrap said:

22july2013 said:

That's an unusual given name. If they could get Lady Gaga to co-star, that would be "Gugu and Gaga." And the theme song for their show should be the Queen song that goes:
All we hear is radio ga ga
Radio gu gu
Radio ga ga

It's a fairly common name here in South Africa...
Gugu is short for Gugulethu (in Zulu), which I suppose could be directly translated to Precious in English.
Mbatha is also a fairly common Zulu surname... not like Smith or Jones, in the UK, but recognisable enough like Green or Roberts.
As for Raw... well... that is something she found somewhere in the UK and tacked onto her name at some point during her journey through life.

Thanks for not being offended by an attempt to have a little fun at the expense of someone's name. I deserved some ridicule, but you were kind.