AMC’s episodic anthology series “Soulmates” takes place 15 years into the future, following the discovery of a test that unequivocally tells you who your soulmate is. And that test, created by fictional company Soul Connex, would actually work, according to series co-creator Brett Goldstein.
“We did all the science of this,” the “Ted Lasso” star, who created the six-episode show with “Black Mirror” alum Will Bridges, told TheWrap. “There is a professor in London, and this was a few years ago, who is a leading professor of quantum physics and we had an idea, where it sounds really complicated, but we spent the day with him and I pitched him this idea and he said, ‘Yeah, that would work.’”
OK, so what’s the idea?
“The idea is that, much like there was this discovery and they called it the ‘God Particle,’ that scientists find a particle in the eye, which is completely unique to every human, but that another human on the planet has a particle that responds to that other person’s. If that other person’s particle is spinning, then their particle will also spin. And that’s like quantum physics. That was the idea. So there is real science behind it.”
Each episode of “Soulmates” — which has already been renewed for Season 2 — features a different cast and explores an entirely new story around “discovering (or opting not to discover) the results of this new test and the impact of those results on a myriad of relationships,” according to AMC.
Tonight’s series premiere stars Sarah Snook and Kingsley Ben-Adir as a married couple who have to face some tough questions about their relationship now that a test is available that could tell them if they are not truly meant to be.
“The first episode is to set up the world, to show you this is a real world, these are real people, this is how it is, this is base level,” Goldstein tells TheWrap. “And then once that is set up, you can start turning the prism that we’re looking through. And so the next episode is like, what if your soulmate just showed up and said, ‘Oh, I’m your soulmate?’ What does that mean? Would you have an affair? What would you do? And then the next episode and the next episode, it’s another turn, another twist, another angle.”
Along with Snook (“Succession”) and Ben-Adir (“The OA,” “High Fidelity”), the rest of the Season 1 cast includes David Costabile (“Billions”), Sonya Cassidy (“Lodge 49,” “Humans”), Charlie Heaton (“Stranger Things”), Malin Akerman (“Billions,” “Dollface”), Bill Skarsgård (“Clark,” “Castle Rock”), Betsy Brandt (“Breaking Bad,” “Life in Pieces”), JJ Feild (“Turn”), Laia Costa (“Victoria”), Shamier Anderson (“Goliath”), Georgina Campbell (“Black Mirror”) and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (“Candyman”), among others.
The series is created by Bridges and Goldstein, based on their short film “For Life.” The duo executive produces along with Jolyon Symonds of Fearless Minds, a Banijay Group company.
“Soulmates” premieres tonight, Monday, at 10/9c on AMC.