Extrapolations looks into a future influenced by climate change

To get extrapolations made required “pretty significant expense” from Apple’s streaming service, but within those Burns and the writing team he assembled, they had to build a working model of the future. Their shared workspace charted the rest of the 21st century on its walls as they spoke to climate and technology experts and processed reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The research was extensive.

Theoretical questions, such as whether humanity will artificially manipulate the planet’s atmosphere through geoengineering, had to be assessed and answered, with the projected results being applied to storylines such as an episode set in 2059 in which Edward Norton starred as a climate scientist whose son played by Michael GandolfiniThe Many Saints of Newark), is on a different path. Whatever Burns came up with, he had an exemplary cast to perform it.

“It was incredibly rewarding. Edward Norton knows more about climate change than I do. He’s an activist, it’s a big part of his life. It’s a great gift when you have people who are so committed,” says Burns. “It’s a great gift to have someone like Sienna Miller, who is a great actress and plays a character who is discovering what it means to be a mother and what it means to raise children on this planet.”

As extrapolations unfolding, it not only measures how the climate is changing, it charts how humanity is changing in response: a dinner party episode set in the year 2068, starring Marion Cotillard, Forest Whitaker and Tobey Maguire, is set as wild sci-fi farce. Not only did Burns want to make a plea for the looming global troubles, he also sought to show that individuals have agency, even when the stakes are so large and complex.

“People can switch off and say big companies decide that, but we decide about a very basic thing: accountability,” says Burns. “We found that out while creating the show. If the oil companies that practiced really brutal, extractive capitalism were held accountable, what would that look like?”

“We have embraced capitalism around the world and as we do so, we should be aware that there are new green technologies and new green industries that we can invest in and rely on that are actually solving this problem will solve.” he adds. “Anything simple can get us there, and the only way to do that is to hold accountable the people who benefit from not making changes.”

extrapolations starts Friday on Apple TV+.

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