As it’s gone for the past two years, the current TV season features a glaring lack of Damon Lindelof storytelling, with HBO’s Watchmen having wrapped up its Emmy-winning run in late 2019. But that glut is thankfully coming to an end with the upcoming streaming series Mrs. Davis, which Lindelof co-created with The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon writer/producer Tara Hernandez. The Peacock project has been shrouded in mystery so far, but now we finally know what the show will be about, generally speaking, as well as its first cast member, with GLOW vet Betty Gilpin set to take on the titular role.
While Peacock and Warner Bros. Television are still keeping things largely secretive, the casting announcement did confirm a couple of key details about the storyline and Betty Gilpin’s character, as well as who else will be involved behind the scenes. Let’s go through those updates below.
What Will Mrs. Davis Be About?
Whatever this title might bring to the forefront of your mind, Mrs. Davis’ actual plotline probably won’t match up. Without any specifics coming to the surface just yet, the new series will center on the “exploration of faith vs. technology,” and will deliver to Peacock subscribers an “epic battle of biblical and binary proportions.”
Sounds like a perfectly suitable plotline for a show coming from someone who spent years writing for the science-leaning sitcom The Big Bang Theory, as well as someone who co-conceived one of TV’s most spiritually mysterious dramas in Lost. Not to mention Lindelof’s work with the demigods of Watchmen and the fraught belief systems of The Leftovers. Expect zero easy answers from this show, regardless of what the questions are.
Keeping things delightfully enigmatic will be Owen Harris, who is confirmed to be serving as an executive producer as well as the director of the premiere and several subsequent episodes. With directing credits for episodes of shows such as Misfits, The Twilight Zone and Brave New World, Harris is arguably best known for helming three episodes of Black Mirror, including the Emmy-winning “San Junipero” installment.
Who Will Betty Gilpin Be Playing?
Betty Gilpin has two high-profile TV series on the way in Starz’s Watergate-based political thriller Gaslit, as well as Apple TV+’s anthology series Roar. And her next role will see her portraying the Mrs. Davis of the title, who is apparently a “nun who goes to battle against an all-powerful Artificial Intelligence.”
That kind of description makes the show seem like more of a physically minded project as opposed to one where the religion vs. technology argument is handled in a purely theoretical and/or conversational sense. But if I can go into this hoping to see a habit-wearing Betty Gilpin in a sword fight with a genius robot, I will be a happy dude, even if none of those hopes actually come to fruition. Just the idea of it is worth basking in.
Betty Gilpin And Damon Lindelof’s Prior Connection
This won’t be Betty Gilpin’s first time working on a Damon Lindelof project, as she starred in the politically minded 2020 thriller The Hunt. I can’t imagine that a show about religion vs. science will be any less controversial, especially coming from a streaming service whose parent company was owned for many years by General Electric! Okay, I guess that doesn’t quite count as a conflict of interest.
While we’re not yet sure when Mrs. Davis will set its battlegrounds on Peacock, it’ll likely be some point in early 2023, depending on how much of an effort the post-production process is. In the meantime, let’s all join together in trying to convince someone worthy to take over the reins for Watchmen Season 2.
