Constellation Stars Breaks Down Navigating Show’s Different Realities

Apple TV+’s latest genre-bending experience is Constellation, which just premiered its first three episodes this week. The series takes a high-concept approach to exploring the most integral components of humanity, which makes for a cathartic experience for viewers, but also presents some unique challenges to its stars. The fractured nature of the narrative means that performers find themselves bringing to life alternate realities centered around different choices they have made, with stars James D’Arcy and Will Catlett reflecting on the exciting and satisfying experience of translating writer Peter Harness’s work to the screen. New episodes of Constellation premiere each Wednesday on Apple TV+.

“I think the thing that is so brilliant and unique about this show is that what Peter Harness, who wrote it and is a genius, was able to do was explore the nature of what it is to be human,” D’Arcy shared with ComicBook.com. “So much of my time is spent living in my head, and I’m living in either a state of worry or a state of excitement about what’s to come or what’s already happened. I’m never here. But when I’m living in those other places, I’m worried about paying the bills or I’m excited that I’m going to win the lottery or whatever it is, I’m actually there. Like, I actually go to those places in my head, it feels very real.”

He continued, “What I think is great is Peter has given us an opportunity to show certain situations from different angles, which you don’t normally get in a drama. That’s not normally how television works. It’s a real privilege to be involved in something that is looking at life in a slightly different way.”

Constellation stars Noomi Rapace as Jo — an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space — only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, and one woman’s desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost.  

“If you split an apple open, it looks identical, but it doesn’t mean that they feel the same. The human experience, we look alike, so to speak, but we might not always feel the same,” Catlett added. “I believe Peter Harness wants you to feel and go on an inward journey within yourself, even though you’re watching this big, massive, genre-bending, epic space thing, but what about yourself? We split you down the middle, what are you finding? How do you deal with regret? How do you deal with loss? How do you deal with unforgiveness? And these are things that humans struggle with, and Peter did a great job of painting that canvas and getting us in a space where we can talk about that human condition.”

New episodes of Constellation premiere each Wednesday on Apple TV+.

What do you think of the new series? Let us know in the comments!