''Debris'' is an American
science fiction television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series that premiered on March 1, 2021 on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
. The series, produced by
Universal Television
Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...
and
Legendary Television
Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...
, was created and co-executive produced by
J. H. Wyman
Joel Howard "J. H." Wyman (born January 5, 1967) is a film and TV producer, screenwriter, director and musician. He is best known for his work on the Fox science fiction shows ''Fringe'' and '' Almost Human'', and wrote and produced the films ...
.
In May 2021, the series was canceled after one season.
Premise
Debris of an alien spacecraft has been falling across Earth over the last six months. An international task force is formed to identify and collect these pieces because they are found to have unusual and often deadly effects on humans and their surroundings. The show follows partners
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
operative Bryan Beneventi and
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
operative Finola Jones as they track down these pieces. But there are also others who are seeking the pieces for themselves.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), '' In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' ( ...
as Bryan Beneventi, a
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
operative
*
Riann Steele
Riann Steele is an American/English actress.
Biography
After studying at Arts Educational Schools, London, she appeared in various Royal Shakespeare Company productions, including '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', ''Love's Labours Lost'' and ''Ha ...
as Finola Jones, a
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
operative
*
Norbert Leo Butz as Craig Maddox, a CIA operative and Beneventi's handler
*
Scroobius Pip
David Peter Meads (born 3 August 1981), known professionally and personally as Scroobius Pip (Dave), is an English actor and podcaster as well as a former spoken word poet and hip hop recording artist from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. He first ga ...
as Anson Ash, a member of Influx, an extremist group that seeks to use the debris for unknown purposes.
Recurring
*
Anjali Jay as Priya Ferris,
Jones' MI6 handler
* Gabrielle Ryan as Dee Dee,
Jones' younger sister
*
Sebastian Roché
Sebastian Roché (born 4 August 1964) is a French-American actor. He is known for his roles as Kurt Mendel in ''Odyssey 5'', Jerry Jacks in '' General Hospital'', Thomas Jerome Newton in ''Fringe'', Balthazar in '' Supernatural'', Mikael in bot ...
as Brill,
another MI6 agent. Roché also plays an unidentified individual who has stolen Brill's identity.
* Thomas Cadrot as Tom, an Orbital teammember
* Andrea Stefancikova as Irina, a Russian secret agent
*
Tyrone Benskin
Tyrone Benskin (born 29 December 1958) is an English-Canadian actor, theatre director and politician. He was elected Member of Parliament in the Jeanne-Le Ber riding, in Montreal, Quebec, in the 2011 Canadian federal election and served as an M ...
as George Jones, a scientist who is Finola's and Dee Dee's father
* Armin Karame as Brandt, an Orbital technician
* Jennifer Copping as Julia Maddox, Craig's wife
* Christian Rose as Dario Maddox, Craig and Julia Maddox’s son
*
Ben Cotton
Ben Cotton (born July 26, 1975) is a Canadian film and television actor. His most notable roles are on the TV series ''Stargate Atlantis'' playing scientist Dr. Kavanagh, his portrayal of "Leon Bell" in the game Dead Rising 2, Shane Pierce, the ...
as Loeb, a member of Influx
Episodes
Production
Development
The series was ordered as a pilot by NBC in January 2020, the first drama to be given a pilot order by the network for the 2020–21 season. The same day it was also announced that Jason Hoffs would be joining
J.H. Wyman
Joel Howard "J. H." Wyman (born January 5, 1967) is a film and TV producer, screenwriter, director and musician. He is best known for his work on the Fox Broadcasting Network, Fox science fiction shows ''Fringe (TV series), Fringe'' and ''Almos ...
as co-executive producer. On June 29, 2020, NBC picked up the pilot to series. On May 27, 2021, NBC canceled the series after one season.
Casting
On February 11, 2020, it was announced that
Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), '' In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' ( ...
had been cast in the pilot as the male lead, in the character of Bryan Beneventi. Shortly after, it was announced that
Riann Steele
Riann Steele is an American/English actress.
Biography
After studying at Arts Educational Schools, London, she appeared in various Royal Shakespeare Company productions, including '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', ''Love's Labours Lost'' and ''Ha ...
had been cast to portray the character of Finola Jones, the female lead. The same month, it was announced that
Norbert Leo Butz would be joining the series main cast as Craig Maddox. On October 20, 2020,
Anjali Jay was cast in a recurring role.
On December 18, 2020, Gabrielle Ryan joined the cast in a recurring capacity.
On January 26, 2021,
Scroobius Pip
David Peter Meads (born 3 August 1981), known professionally and personally as Scroobius Pip (Dave), is an English actor and podcaster as well as a former spoken word poet and hip hop recording artist from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. He first ga ...
was listed as being a main cast member. On February 3, 2021,
Sebastian Roché
Sebastian Roché (born 4 August 1964) is a French-American actor. He is known for his roles as Kurt Mendel in ''Odyssey 5'', Jerry Jacks in '' General Hospital'', Thomas Jerome Newton in ''Fringe'', Balthazar in '' Supernatural'', Mikael in bot ...
was cast in a recurring role.
Filming
Though the series was greenlighted only in January 2020, the majority of the pilot was filmed before production was suspended across the United States due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Filming for the remainder of the first season took place from November 2, 2020 to April 9, 2021, in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.
Broadcast
The series premiered on March 1, 2021, on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
.
Legendary Television
Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...
secured a deal with
TF1 and U-Next for exclusive distribution rights to the series in France and Japan.
Reception
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the series holds an approval rating of 72% based on 18 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.75/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though ''Debris'' early characterization is a shade too ambiguous, its central mystery has enough spooky sci-fi juice to keep viewers guessing—for at least one season." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, it has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on 11 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Saloni Gajjar of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the series a B- and wrote a review saying, "As much as they're trying, the actors don't yet have the prowess to carry the emotive weight of the show. To find its space in this television landscape, ''Debris'' should rely on the power of the titular space junk."
Ratings
References
External links
*
* {{IMDb title
2020s American drama television series
2020s American mystery television series
2020s American science fiction television series
2020s American supernatural television series
2021 American television series debuts
2021 American television series endings
English-language television shows
NBC original programming
Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Television series about the Central Intelligence Agency
Television series by Universal Television
Television series by Legendary Television
Television shows filmed in Vancouver