''Mrs. Davis'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

television

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

created by Tara Hernandez and

Damon Lindelof Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, and producer. Among his accolades, he received three Primetime Emmy Awards, from twelve nominations. In 2010, ''Time'' magazine named him one of the ...

for

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

. The series stars

Betty Gilpin Elizabeth Folan Gilpin (born July 21, 1986) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan in the Netflix comedy series '' GLOW'' (2017–2019), for which she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards f ...

as a nun using her faith to take on technology, and a supporting cast including

Jake McDorman John Allen McDorman IV (born July 8, 1986) is an American actor. On television, he headlined the CBS comedy-drama ''Limitless (TV series), Limitless'' (2015–2016) and was the male lead of the sitcoms ''Are You There, Chelsea?'' (2012) and ''Man ...

Margo Martindale Margo Martindale (born July 18, 1951) is an American character actress who has appeared on television, film, and stage. In 2011, she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her recurring role as Mags Bennett on '' J ...

David Arquette David Arquette (born September 8, 1971) is an American actor and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film franchise ''Scream'', for which he won a Teen Choice Award and two Blockbuster Enter ...

and

Elizabeth Marvel Elizabeth Marvel (born November 27, 1969) is an American actress. Her most prominent roles include Det. Nancy Parras on ''The District'', Solicitor General of the United States, Solicitor General Heather Dunbar on ''House of Cards (American TV se ...

. It premiered at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

on March 11, 2023, before its debut on Peacock on April 20.

Cast

Main cast

as Sister Simone, formerly Elizabeth Abbott, a nun battling artificial intelligence *

as Preston Wiley, an ex-boyfriend of Simone who stands against the AI with her *

Andy McQueen Andy McQueen (born, March 2, 1991) is a Canadian actor. He is most noted for his performance in the 2019 film '' Disappearance at Clifton Hill'', for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 8th Canadi ...

as Jay, Simone's husband

Recurring cast

as Simone's

Mother Superior An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

as Celeste Abbott, Simone's mother *

Chris Diamantopoulos Chris Diamantopoulos (born May 9, 1975) is a Canadian actor. He played Russ Hanneman in the HBO series ''Silicon Valley'' and starred in the film ''The Three Stooges'', and the TV series ''Good Girls Revolt''. He currently voices Mickey Mouse i ...

as JQ, an ally of Wiley who also stands against the AI *

Katja Herbers Katja Mira Herbers (born 19 October 1980) is a Dutch actress. She is best known for portraying Dr. Helen Prins on the WGN America drama series ''Manhattan'' (2014–2015), Emily Grace in the HBO science fiction drama series ''Westworld'' (2018� ...

as Mathilde LaFleur *

Tom Wlaschiha Thomas Wlaschiha (born 20 June 1973) is a German actor. Internationally, he is known for his roles as Jaqen H'ghar in the second, fifth and sixth seasons of the TV series '' Game of Thrones'', as well as Sebastian Berger in the TV series ''Cr ...

as Hans Ziegler *

Ben Chaplin Ben Chaplin (born Benedict John Greenwood; 31 July 1969)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in films, including '' The Truth About Cats & Dogs' ...

as Arthur Schrodinger *

Mathilde Ollivier Mathilde Ollivier (born 20 September 1994) is a French actress, producer and model. She is known for her role in '' Overlord'' (2018). Early life She was born and brought up in Montparnasse, Paris. She studied drama and dance at the Conservatoire ...

as Clara

Guest cast

as Montgomery Abbott, Simone's father *

Tim McInnerny Tim McInnerny ( ; born 18 September 1956) is an English actor. He is known for his many roles on stage and television, including as Lord Percy Percy and Captain Darling in the 1980s British sitcom ''Blackadder''. Early life McInnerny was born ...

as Apron Man *

Roberto Mateos Roberto Mateos (born April 28, 1963, in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico), is a Mexican actor of telenovelas. He is best known for his performance in most successful telenovelas productions such as Televisa, Venevision and Telemundo. He live ...

as The Pope *

Shohreh Aghdashloo Shohreh Aghdashloo ( fa, شهره آغداشلو, ; née Vaziri-Tabar (); 11 May 1952) is an Iranian and American actress. Following numerous starring roles on the stage, she made her film debut in ''Chess of the Wind'' (1976). Her next two film ...

as The Boss * Ashley Romans as Joy, the creator of Mrs. Davis

Episodes

Production

''Mrs. Davis'' was created by Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez at

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

, and the show received a 10-episode series order for

. The pair would both co-write and executive produce, with Hernandez acting as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

. Susan Rovner had been developing the series with them at Warner Bros., and as new chair for

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

Television and Streaming, she out-bid other broadcasters and streamers to buy the show.

Owen Harris Owen Harris (1837 – January 1905) was a Liberal politician and municipal leader in Aberdare, South Wales. Early life Harris was born in Llanddeusant, Carmarthenshire, but as a young man migrated to Ystalyfera in the Swansea Valley and later ...

and

Alethea Jones Alethea Jones is an Australian film and television director. She is best known for her films ''Lemonade Stand'' (2012) and ''Fun Mom Dinner'' (2017), and the TV series '' Queen America''. Career Jones's first short film, ''When the Wind Chang ...

are executive producers and each directed multiple episodes. Casting began in March 2022, starting with

in the lead role of a nun battling artificial intelligence, and

starring opposite her.

, and

were added to the main cast, while

and

received recurring roles. After the start of filming, Chris Diamantopoulos, Ashley Romans, and Katja Herbers were added to the cast as well. Filming was in progress in August 2022, shooting primarily on the Warner Bros. lot or in a remote desert location to maintain secrecy. The international scenes were filmed in Spain: Sa Boadella beach in Lloret de Mar (Arthur Schrodinger's island), Cathedral in Girona (the execution of the Templars), Figueres Fortress (sword contest), Valencia (Shrodinger's ship in Cadiz) and Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona (Shrodinger's university). Writers used AI to come up with episode titles. Teller (half of the comedy magic duo Penn & Teller) was a magic consultant for the series. In May 2023, it was reported that there were no plans for a second season.

Release

The series had its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

(SXSW) on March 11, 2023. The series premiered on April 20, 2023, with the first four episodes available immediately and the rest of the remaining four debuting on a weekly basis. The series premiered with the first four episodes on April 24, 2023, on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

outside the US where available. The series premiered on

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service prim ...

in Germany on 10th November 2023.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator

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 ...

reported an approval rating of 92% based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Positively bonkers while undergirded by an intelligent design, ''Mrs. Davis'' makes

a hero for modern times in a highly imaginative mixture of spirituality and technology."

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 ...

gave the first season a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The series was included in several mid-year lists of the best TV shows of 2023, such as ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', and ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...

''. Ben Travers of ''IndieWire'' wrote, "''Mrs. Davis'' is made to entertain, first and foremost, and it's a highly enjoyable experience whether you engage with its deeper issues or not. Betty Gilpin is delightful. The larger ensemble matches her irresistible energy. The visuals are colorful and vast. The scripts are tight, the momentum unwavering, and the sheer joy palpable." ''Rolling Stone''s

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He th ...

said, "''Mrs. Davis'' featured some of the crazier plot twists you will ever see, yet managed to be genuinely moving and thoughtful even in the middle of all its ridiculousness." Alison Herman of ''Variety'' noted that the series "has the confidence and humor . . . to help the audience adjust to all the show throws at them, helped by a grounding performance from ilpin Whether or not you laugh at the final joke... you have to admire the show for making it, or getting made at all.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Damon Lindelof 2020s American drama television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2023 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings American English-language television shows Peacock (streaming service) original programming Television series about artificial intelligence Television series about nuns Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series created by Damon Lindelof Television shows about religion Television shows about technology