‘Maniac’ Trailer: Emma Stone & Jonah Hill Experience The Strangest Pharmaceutical Trial Ever In New Series

“Maniac” ticks all the boxes for a prestige tv show in the best possible ways. Amazing cast? Check. Interesting and weird premise? Yup. Acclaimed auteur director helming every episode? Oh yeah. Ever since the first teaser for “Maniac” premiered, we have been itching for another look. And, oh boy, does this trailer deliver.

Netflix has described the show as a psychological, pitch-black comedy that is set in a world somewhat like our own and similar to our time where two strangers who are part of a mysterious pharmaceutical trial that will supposedly solve all their problems. But things soon go awry and not according to plan, as these things tend to do. Cindy Holland, VP of Netflix’s original series, calls it a “thought-provoking, fever dream of a show.“

The A-list cast includes Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Sally Field, “Ex Machina” actress Sonoya Mizuno,  Julia Garner, Jemima Kirke and Justin Theroux. The “Superbad” co-stars Hill and Stone will also be pulling double-duty as executive producers for their first television series regular credits.

The series is based on a Norwegian show of the same name and will be brought to life on Netflix by “The Leftovers” writer Patrick Somerville with Cary Fukunaga directing all 10 episodes. Fukunaga became one of the most buzzed-about directors with the Emmy winning first season of HBO’s “True Detective,” then garnered even more acclaim with the film “Beasts of No Nation” in 2015. Since then, he has mostly been producing and writing things like “The Alienist” and “It,” respectively, so it’s extremely exciting to see him behind the camera again. And we here at The Playlist could not be looking forward to it more since naming it our third most anticipated show of 2018.  

We are definitely looking forward to binge-watching all of  “Maniac” on September 21.

P.S. if you’re too eager and can’t wait that long, the original show is currently streaming on Netflix.