Upload: Robbie Amell on His Character’s Life after Death

In Amazon’s Upload Robbie Amell plays Nathan, a young man who, after being gravely injured in a freak accident, opts to have his consciousness “uploaded” into a virtual afterlife. Uploaded into the luxurious Lakeview afterlife community, Nathan finds himself learning to navigate his new reality while also dealing with some of the realities his “life” after death presents — especially those around his relationships. It’s a premise that presents a lot of interesting questions about life, death, and what comes next and, for Amell, it’s those questions that make the show interesting — and Nathan’s journey a fascinating one.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Amell explained that the world of Upload was one of the driving forces behind his desire to be a part of the series.

“I mean, I read the script and I immediately loved it,” Amell said. “I just thought the world building that Greg did was so interesting. And, like you said, it asks a bunch of questions, but it never did it in a too serious way. There was always the lighthearted comedy around it, but they were smart questions and it makes you think.”

“So, that caught me right away,” Amell continued. “And then Nathan, I just found that we have the same voice and the same sense of humor. So, I went in and luckily I booked it And Greg and I started talking about the character and one of the challenges in the pilot was we wanted to make him a little shallow and a bit of a brat and a bit of a douchebag. But we didn’t want to lose people and make them too unlikable that we can’t bring them back. So, we wanted to give them somewhere to go. And luckily Greg is just so great at finding those moments that make you kind of smile along with a character even when they’re not necessarily the greatest person.”

Nathan not being the greatest person, though, is something that also presented an opportunity for him to grow in his afterlife, thanks to his “angel”, Nora (Andy Allo).

“I will say you find out some stuff about him towards the end of the season, some mistakes that he made, but the redeeming quality about, or the only redeeming side of that is the reasons he was doing them. His family doesn’t have a lot of money and I would do anything for my mom, but he did kind of the wrong things for not the right reasons, but for reasons you can kind of understand,” Amell said. “But he meets somebody like Nora and you quickly realize that he didn’t really have any real friends in the real world. And in her he sees somebody who kind of teaches him about life and what it is to care for other people, and you know, not just about himself. And I just find that Nora is so charming and you see all of the things that she’s trying to do for her dad and it’s just, it’s an easy character to get behind and to learn from.”

Upload is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.