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Netflix is dropping a new series called Away on Friday, September 4. The show is centered around Emma Green, an astronaut that is leading a three-year mission to Mars. She leaves her husband and daughter behind on Earth for the mission, and it all seems very, very tense. Most importantly, however, her character is apparently a Virginia grad as evidenced by her tee-shirt in the trailer:
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Away costars Josh Charles (The Good Wife) as Swank’s husband, and Talitha Eliana Bateman (Geostorm) as her daughter. SyFy dubs the series — which has 10 episodes in its debut season — the “This Is Us meets The Martian mash-up we never knew we needed,” which probably means a lot of crying but also a lot of space disasters.
The full trailer shows that, yes, there will certainly be some troublesome spaceship problems (FIRE BALL?), but also a fair amount of dealing with the emotion and difficulties that come with being a pioneering spacewoman.
This isn’t the first show or movie to predominantly feature Virginia apparel or a character that identifies as a Wahoo. Tea Leoni’s character in Madame Secretary graduated from and later taught at UVA’s Law School. In True Colors, John Cusack and James Spader’s characters met while at UVA, and the titular Edward Scissorhands wears a Virginia hat while breaking into a house. Oh, and don’t forget Reese Witherspoon’s big Virginia duffel bag in How Do You Know.
In Silence of the Lambs, Jodie Foster’s character famously says “I graduated from UVA, doctor. It’s not a charm school,” and in Netflix’s dark series Mindhunters, Jonathan Groff’s character studies at Virginia (although the scenes are most definitely not filmed in Charlottesville).
We have no idea whether or not Away will be any good, but we’ll at least give it a try because go Hoos, of course.