The Underrated Apple TV Sci-Fi Series About Climate Change Starring Meryl Streep And Kit Harington

In "Game of Thrones," Kit Harington's Jon Snow interacted with climate change in a sense, with the ever-approaching winter and threat of the White Walkers. After the show ended, Harington went on to star in another TV series actually about climate change. Appearing alongside Oscar winner Meryl Streep, the show told multiple interconnected stories throughout its eight episodes.

Apple TV premiered "Extrapolations" on March 17, 2023. The final episode of the limited series aired on April 21. The show features multiple characters and their stories, all set in different years, showing the effects of climate change on the Earth and how people lived through intense heat, rising oceans, and more impacts. Episode one took place in 2037, with future episodes being set in 2059, 2066, 2070, and more. It follows the individual stories of characters as they make life-altering decisions while the planet is rapidly changing.

Streep played a character named Eve in the second episode titled "2046: Whale Fall." She also provided the voice for a humpback whale, which sounds strange but makes sense onscreen. Harington appeared in four episodes, including the premiere "2037: A Raven Story" as the character Nicholas Bilton. Notably, Streep also starred in a climate change-focused movie for Netflix called "Don't Look Up" in 2021.

The limited series tells a story over more than a 30-year stretch of time. Everyday people struggle to deal with the effects of climate change on the Earth. Food sources are scarce, water is depleting, and the atmosphere is heating up, causing wildfires, rising ocean levels, and a cataclysmic loss of life for both the human and animal population. Meanwhile, scientists, engineers, and biologists are working to understand how to turn back the clock and save the planet that's become a desolate dystopia.

Episodes connect in other ways aside from following how climate change is impacting the Earth. The sixth episode titled "2066: Lola" is set far in the future where artificial intelligence plays a key role. In futuristic cities like London, people can rent robots as companions, as is the case with Gemma Chan's Natasha. The episode features the son of a character from an earlier episode, but they're now 20 years older due to the time jump from episode two to six.

"Extrapolations" is an underrated Apple TV sci-fi show with episodes that are less than an hour long, making for a binge-watch you could finish in a day. If you're a fan of Harington, you'll want to watch the show to its end, as he appears in the finale, having played a vital role throughout the series. Streep is only in a single episode, but she's great as usual, and lends gravitas to a star-studded cast that also includes names like Edward Norton, Marion Cotillard, and Diane Lane.

Those who've seen "Extrapolations" in its entirety, say it's a good look at the effects of climate change, but could be stronger. Reddit viewers said a few episodes hit the mark, such as episode two "2046: Whale Fall," which makes sense as that was the only episode Streep was in. You don't stick a three-time Oscar winner in a TV series without knowing it will succeed.

A few people on Reddit said that the finale wasn't that exceptional. Comments remarked on the terrible makeup used to make Harington appear 30 years older as his character aged between the first episode and the last. Another Reddit thread discussed that with the lack of bees as pollinators in the show, things should actually be far worse when it comes to malnourishment and lack of edible food.

"Extrapolations'" Rotten Tomatoes critics score isn't that great either, sitting at 43%, although its audience score is slightly higher at 58%. The individual episodes on IMDb range between a ranking of 6.5 to 7.6 though, which isn't bad. It would appear many overlooked this Apple TV series, despite it having a ton of Hollywood icons in the cast, including four-time Oscar-nominee Norton, who also starred in one of Netflix's biggest movies.