‘Upload’ Trailer: First Look at Greg Daniels’ Amazon Prime Video Debut

Kristen Lopez
·2 min read

Click here to read the full article.

The afterlife remains a popular subject matter to explore in media and Amazon Prime Video is diving in with their new series, “Upload.” The series comes from “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office” scribe — and Emmy-winner – Greg Daniels, and focuses on an app developer named Nathan (Robbie Amell). As the trailer lays out, Nathan has been in a horrific accident and in this future world needs to choose between surgery and dying, only to have his consciousness “uploaded” into a virtual afterlife.

Nathan chooses the latter and is placed in a fantasy world where he has everything at his disposal, from the ability to own a talking dog to eating anything he wants … as long as he has the money for an in-app purchase. The 10-episode series will follow Nathan as he gets used to living in the ritzy afterlife community of “Lakeside,” where his girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) and her family have purchased space. He also has to contend with a burgeoning relationship with a customer support representative named Nora (Andy Allo), who appears to be crushing on the newly deceased man.

More from IndieWire

At first glance, “Upload” seems heavily inspired by other future depictions of the afterlife and virtual reality. (Any good series set in the future is apparently required to use the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime.”) The comparisons to the “Black Mirror” episode “San Junipero” are immediately evident, though there’s also a heavy dose of the 1997 Spanish-language feature “Abre Los Ojos” (remade by Cameron Crowe as “Vanilla Sky”) in there. That being said, “Upload” has a more comedic tone than those moody works.

Even though productions have shut-down worldwide as a result of COVID-19, numerous networks and production companies still have filmed content in the bank to roll out over the next several months. Amazon recently announced last month they were working on a horror-comedy from the producers of “A Quiet Place” called “Mitchcraft.” The series is described as “a relationship-comedy base, where a small town fire marshal inadvertently harnesses supernatural forces and becomes a witch.”

All 10 episodes of “Upload” will be available on Amazon Prime starting May 1.

Best of IndieWire

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.