Leave it to Steven Soderbergh to celebrate the release of his compelling, complex mystery noir series “Full Circle” by announcing the release of another show he made in secret just a few days later. On Friday, the trailer for “Command Z” was released, announcing that the sci-fi comedy series starring Michael Cera will be streaming exclusively on Soderbergh’s website on Monday.
“I think by now you’re used to me describing the somewhat mercurial behavior of our boss, Mr/Dr Soderbergh, but this most recent development is next level and can’t be kept to myself for reasons you’ll soon understand,” a letter from one Fabrizia del Dongo reads. “This very morning, our fearful leader explained that in three days (July 17th for those who don’t want to do the math) we will be “dropping” a series of some sort called ‘Command Z.’ If I seem hedgy, it’s because A) None of us have seen it; and B) It’s apparently about 90 minutes long, but there are eight episodes of varying length, so it is an actual series or just a movie cut up into pieces?”
The trailer, which you can only watch on Soderbergh’s website, reveals a future-set story about three people who are contacted by a man (played by Michael Cera) who dispatches them into the year 2023 to correct wrongs, in a year he determines is “America’s last inflection point.” They travel to the past through a wormhole and guide people (including Liev Schreiber) through a voice in their head.
Roy Wood Jr., Chloe Radcliffe, Jacqueline Antaramian and J.J. Maley costar in the series, which is presumably directed by Soderbergh. The writer of the project is not publicly confirmed for now, but The Playlist reports it was written by novelist Kurt Anderson. The show is most likely the mysterious project called “The Pendulum Effect” that was revealed on his watchlist in January. It’s also unclear who funded the project.
This isn’t the first time Soderbergh has gone experimental with the release of one of his projects — he was famously ahead of the curve with his 2005 feature “Bubble,” which was released day-and-date on the cable channel HDNet the same day it hit theaters, a shocking and unprecedented move at the time.
The release of “Command Z” comes on the heels of the release of “Full Circle” on Max, a twisty and sprawling collaboration with “Mosaic” and “No Sudden Move” writer Ed Solomon. That’s rolling out two new episodes weekly, with the first two streaming now.
