The Third Day is HBO’s upcoming uniquely-structured mystery/drama mini-series. It’s made up of two distinct halves, “Summer” and “Winter” that consist of three episodes each, and with different lead actors per half – and based on the title I’m assuming each episode is a single day.
It’s created by Dennis Kelly (Utopia, Pulling)) and Felix Barrett, with Kelly also writing “Summer” and Marc Munden (National Treasure, Utopia) directing. Philippa Lowthorpe (The Crown) directs “Winter”, while Kelly, Kit de Wall, and Dean O’Loughlin share the writing duties. The miniseries also features an excellent cast headlined by Jude Law (The Young/New Pope), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts franchise), Emily Watson (Chernobyl), and Paddy Considine (The Outsider).
The official synopsis for each half of the show is as follows:
In “Summer,” one man (The New Pope’s Jude Law) visits a mysterious island off the British coast and discovers a group of inhabitants intent on preserving their home at any cost. In the second half, aka “Winter,” a strong-willed outsider (Moonlight’s Naomie Harris) comes to the island seeking answers — but instead causes a battle to decide its fate.
Let’s take a look:
What immediately stands out to me is the opening shot of the car driving across the causeway. Firstly, it’s a fantastic shot, and secondly that image reminds me of when you see slides containing some sort of virus or parasite – so are the visitors to this isolated community not as benign as they may appear at first glance, or are a disruptive influence on its fragile ecosystem? Or maybe I’m just reading too much into that.
Anyway, this looks like a superb mystery mini-series with a whole bunch of intriguing mysteries to unravel. There’s Law’s hinted-at trauma and reasons for visiting the island, Harris’ quest for answers on the island, and then just what’s all happening on this island.
What do you think?
The Third Day will premiere on HBO on 11 May. It also stars Gianna Calchetti, Amer Chadha-Patel, Mark Lewis Jones, Joe Blakemore, and Freya Allan.
Last Updated: March 12, 2020
