EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ has handed a formal 10-episode series order to Sunny (fka Dark Manual), a half-hour darkly comedic drama starring and executive produced by Rashida Jones, from Katie Robbins (The Affair, The Last Tycoon) and A24. Lucy Tcherniak (Station Eleven, The End of the F***ing World) is attached to direct.
Written by Robbins, Sunny, which had been eying a green light for awhile, is based on the book “Dark Manual” by Japan-based award-winning Irish writer Colin O’Sullivan. The dark comedy stars Jones as Suzie, an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan, whose life is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash. As “consolation” she’s given Sunny, one of a new class of domestic robots made by her husband’s electronics company. Though at first Suzie resents Sunny’s attempts to fill the void in her life, gradually they develop an unexpected friendship, as together they uncover the dark truth of what really happened to Suzie’s family, becoming dangerously enmeshed in a world Suzie never knew existed.
Robbins executive produces with Jones and Tcherniak, along with Ravi Nandan and Jess Lubben for A24. The series is expected to film in Japan.
Sunny marks the second collaboration for Apple, A24 and Jones following Sofia Coppola’s On The Rocks. It is Jones’ third project at Apple TV+ overall; she will also next be seen in Wool, the streamer’s upcoming, world building drama series based on Hugh Howey’s best-selling trilogy of dystopian novels. Jones is repped by UTA and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.
Robbins, repped by UTA, was a writer-producer on seasons four and five of Showtime’s The Affair and staffed on The Last Tycoon. She was most recently a consulting producer on Party of Five. She is repped by UTA, Aaron Kogan Management and Lichter Grossman.
Tcherniak’s directing credits include Station Eleven and The End Of The F***ing World and Peacock’s upcoming limited series Angelyne. She is repped by CAA, Grandview and Independent Talent.
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