Yvonne Strahovski made a name for herself on streaming TV thanks to her role as Serena on Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, but now she's jumping to a different streaming service to play a very different kind of role. Strahovski will star in an upcoming limited series on Netflix, called Stateless. The first trailer is out for the new show, which is based on a true story, and it reveals Strahovski on the run from a cult.
Take a look at Yvonne Strahovski in the trailer for a show that looks equal parts thrilling and intriguing:
If you thought Yvonne Strahovski fleeing from a cult was going to be the only exciting part of Stateless, then the trailer for the Netflix series proves otherwise. The series will follow four strangers when their lives collide in the middle of the Australian desert, where they all wound up at an immigration detention center.
Yvonne Strahovski plays an airline stewardess by the name of Sofie Werner on the run from a dangerous cult, and the trailer suggests that the show will feature her character in her days with the cult, when she was dressed up and out and about, as well as in the desert detention center.
As for the other three strangers whose lives will collide, viewers will see an Afghan refugee along with his family as they flee persecution, a young father trying to escape a dead-end job, and a bureaucrat trying to contain a national scandal but running out of time to do it.
Yvonne Strahovski leads a cast also comprised of Jai Courtney (playing Cam Sandford), Asher Keddie (playing Claire Kowitz), Fayssal Bazzi (playing Ameer), Marta Dusseldorp (playing Margot), Dominic West (playing Gordon Masters), and Cate Blanchett (playing Pat Masters). The series, which originally released on Australia's ABC, was co-created by Blanchett after she came up with the idea back in 2013.
Stateless will run for only six episodes, and viewers shouldn't go into the show expecting it to run for more beyond the first, or even an anthology. Speaking with Deadline, Cate Blanchett (whose Mrs. America TV show debuted on Hulu earlier this year) addressed whether there could be a Season 2:
It was definitely conceived that way [as a one off]. What’s happened since 2013 is the problematic nature of the situation has only deepened and become more enmeshed and politicized. In that way, the series does feel open-ended. What’s more important to us — rather than going on and making another series, even though there are so many more stories to tell in this vein — is scaffolding a conversation around it.
According to the actress and co-creator, the goal of Stateless is more to create conversation about the subject matter than to launch Netflix's next hit ongoing series. If there is only the one season of the series, Cate Blanchett did manage to bring together a strong cast to tell the four main characters' stories.
The good news is that the wait to see Yvonne Strahovski's new show won't be too much longer. Stateless launches on Wednesday, July 8 at 12:01 a.m. PT on Netflix. The next season of The Handmaid's Tale won't hit Hulu any time too soon, so Stateless is the place to find more of Strahovski sooner rather than later.
For more streaming options now and in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our 2020 Netflix premiere schedule. If you're in the market for some TV options that aren't streaming, check out our 2020 summer premiere guide.
