Attention television outlets: THIS is how you debut some off-the-wall mystery shit. Earlier today, streaming giant Netflix started dropping a number of cryptic tweets for no real reason.
Have you seen death?
Have you seen darkness?
Have you seen the light?
Then they showed these awkward videos of a woman jumping off of a bridge?!
What the hell is all of this, you might ask? I wish I could tell you. Netflix did end up dropping a full trailer for The OA, a new series that's apparently dropping this Friday?! This is a surprise to everyone, especially considering Netflix already dropped their new release schedule for this month, and nothing titled The OA was on it (although they have everything from that Barack Obama movie Barry to the fourth season of The Adventures of Puss in Boots lined up for the same day). The OA, though? This looks INSANE.
With all of the "chapters" for The OA (possibly eight, if you believe The OA's iMDb page) set to drop this Friday, Netflix already had their ducks in a row; they already have a lively Instagram page and a Twitter account, but the question remains: what the hell is The OA? Their Twitter bio says "Trust the unknown," but we need a little more backstory on that. The official Netflix page for The OA just says it's "a new drama series starring Britt Marling and directed by Zal Batmanglij." Back in 2015, Cinema Blend reported that the show is written by Marling and Batmanglij, who also worked on the award-winning film Sound of My Voice. This is apparently their first TV series as a duo, but their fourth project altogether.
According to USA Today, The OA cast includes Scott Wilson (from The Walking Dead), Brooklyn's Emory Cohen, and Phyllis Smith from The Office(!). Joining Marling and Batmanglij in an executive producer capacity is Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Sarah Esberg of Plan B Entertainment, as well as Michael Sugar from Anonymous Content.
What exactly does "The OA" mean, though? Why is someone telling us to "get in?" What kind of process makes someone go from being blind to now recalling all of the things they supposedly never saw? Who is putting together this lit Instagram page? All of these questions (and more) will be revealed this Friday, Dec. 16, as The OA makes its Netflix premiere.
