The competition between streaming services remains heated, so it should come as no surprise to learn that Hulu is moving forward with The First. Like its name suggests, The First will be a sci-fi series centered around the first manned mission to Mars, which will put particular focus on the challenges that would have to be overcome to ensure a successful colonization of the Red Planet. With that said, it is interesting to note that The First won’t be focused on just the people entrusted with said mission, seeing as how it has been stated that it will focus on said individuals’ friends and family members plus the members of the ground team as well. Curiously, it has not been said what agency would be responsible for launching the manned mission to Mars in the narrative, but it should be noted that the whole thing is still in the earlier stages of production at this point in time.
What Can We Expect from Sean Penn in The First?
People who are curious about whether The First will be worth watching or not might be interested in a couple of pieces of news. First, Sean Penn is the man who has been chosen to lead in the sci-fi series. His exact role in The First remains unknown at this point in time, but there is a fair amount of speculation that he will be playing an ex-NASA astronaut. Regardless, whatever the role that Penn will be playing, it seems safe to say that interested individuals can expect something worthwhile, seeing as how he has more than proven his acting skills with the winning of two Academy Awards as well as numerous other awards and accolades over the course of his career.
Second, it should be mentioned that The First was created by Beau Willimon. For those who are unfamiliar with that name, Willimon is best-known for his involvement in House of Cards, for which he served as an executive producer as well as a writer. In regards to The First, Willimon is not just the sci-fi series’s creator but also its executive producer as part of his production company Westward Productions. Combined with the casting, this should provide interested individuals with a measure of confidence in the eventual results.
Why Is The First Interesting?
With that said, while it is still much too soon to say anything about what we can expect from The First, its basic premise is an interesting one. After all, a manned mission to Mars would be an enormous challenge, so much so that it should be able to provide the show-runners with more than enough opportunities for drama on its own. However, the nature of telecommunications in the present means that such a mission would be monitored with close interest by a lot of people, meaning that there is a PR component to it as well. Finally, there is the simple but nonetheless powerful human drama of people separated from their loved ones by vast distances, which explains why the TV show is expected to cover the perspectives of the friends and family members as well. Summed up, The First possesses plenty of potential, though it remains to be see whether it will be capable of capitalizing upon it or not.
