In the last year alone UFO sightings skyrocketed. Could it be that we were looking to the cosmos for answers during the pandemic? Or are the night skies filled with spaceships piloted by little green men? J.J. Abrams and his production company grappled with those same questions, ahem, presumably, leading them to develop an upcoming docuseries in hopes of answering them.
Bad Robot will co-produce the series with Showtime. The show, entitled UFO, looks poised to dive deep into our intrigue toward UFOs, or more importantly, our curiosity about the possibility of extraterrestrial life visiting us here on Earth. To be honest, now is the best time for a series to investigate this topic. The US House Committee recently received a classified briefing on UFOs, stirring up public interest more than ever.
According to Showtime, who will produce the four-part series, UFO plans to explore "our fascination with unidentified flying objects, and what clandestine influence the American government, lucrative private companies, and the military may have in shielding the truth behind extraterrestrial phenomena to further their own agendas."
The official synopsis for the new series goes on to describe the show as follows: "Ignited by the bombshell New York Times story in 2017 revealing that the Pentagon had been secretly tracking UFOs for years, the series examines the history of the phenomenon through cultural and political touchpoints, including shocking testimony from eyewitnesses across the country.
"As the conversation grows more bizarre and reaches the mainstream by virtue of credible investigations into alien encounters, UFO confronts the most enigmatic questions of all: Why do we believe what we believe? And what is the elusive truth beyond this decades long mystery?"
With Abrams on board as executive producer, UFO is in seasoned hands. Aside from his work on the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, he's grappled with smaller, more intimate films dealing with alien life. He produced Cloverfield, the 2008 found footage alien monster movie, and its 2016 sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane, and directed 2011's Super 8, a coming-of-age tale about a kid whose small town is overrun by an alien presence.
All four episodes of UFOs debut in the US on Showtime, August 8th. Until then, get acquainted with our picks of the best sci-fi movies ever made and check out the first poster for the show below.
