Everything we know about Apple TV’s new streaming service and shows

The digital content market has been dominated by streaming juggernaut Netflix alongside the likes of Amazon, Hulu, and HBO for quite some time now. However, this could all be set to change when the global goliath Apple unleashes its streaming service upon the world. In true Apple style, it’s been relatively secretive about its service – which is set for a 2019 launch – but that hasn’t stopped fans speculating the shit out of it.

The most recent rumor derived from a report in The Information is that Apple is considering a bundle package that would group its original content with a subscription to magazines, music, and iCloud storage, which we’re sure we can all agree would be a very attractive prospect to the millions of Apple users around the world.

While this is all just speculation, what we do know is that Apple is planning on going against the grain to its competitors. At the 2018 SXSW film festival, Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue revealed some of its TV strategy, including that it has no intentions of acquiring some of the bigger players like Netflix & Disney.

Instead, it will focus on pouring money into smaller investments that look at how people will be using and processing media in the future. Oh yeah, and apparently “the financial part . . . isn’t the issue”. No shit! With a reported $1 billion to play around with, it’s no secret Apple isn’t short of funds.

Sony’s Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, who were brought on in 2017 to serve as the heads of worldwide video and chief content officers, have been on a bit of a spending spree of late. Here are all of the projects currently in the pipeline for when the tech giant does unleash its streaming service and thus moves further down its path of total world domination.

Scripted Originals

Amazing Stories

This remake of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 anthology show will offer a modern take on the thriller hit that was likened to The Twilight Zone. Edward Kitsis (Once Upon a Time) and Adam Horowitz (Star Trek) will serve as showrunners after taking over from Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Hart Hanson (Bones), while Spielberg will take the position of exec producer.

Are You Sleeping

Starring Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water), Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls), and Aaron Paul (Bojack Horseman), Are You Sleeping is a ten-episode drama that will look into the true crime saga and challenge viewers to question the consequences of such cases when put on a public stage. Nichelle Tramble Spellman (Mercy) serves as writer & showrunner while Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies) exec produces.

Calls

From creator Timothee Hochet, Calls is another ten-episode drama and is Apple’s first international purchase. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the show will allow “audiences to experience short stories through real-life audio sources and minimal visuals.”

Central Park

From Loren Bouchard (Bob’s Burgers), Josh Gad (Beauty and the Beast), and Nora Smith comes a show that sounds as fresh as it does fun – an animated musical about a family of caretakers who are tasked with saving Central Park and the world. No biggie!

Dickinson

Apple gave a straight-to-series order to this half-hour dramedy about 19th century poet Emily Dickinson. Oscar-winning actress Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) will star as the titular character in this show described as a comedic look into Dickinson’s world, exploring the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of a budding writer who doesn’t fit in to her own time.

Little America

We’re most excited about this comedy series and you should be too! From The Big Sick writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon comes this half-hour show based on true stories from Epic Magazine that will explore the funny, romantic, heartfelt, inspiring, and surprising stories of immigrants in America.

Little Voice

Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles is joining forces with J.J. Abrams (Super 8) for this ten-episode half-hour dramedy, described as a love letter to the diverse musicality of New York. And yes, Bareilles will be providing music for the show, while Jessie Nelson will be writing and directing the first three episodes, all of which signals Little Voice will be a show to sing about when it hits our screens.

See

Written by Steven Knight (Locke) and directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend), this futuristic drama has a strong team behind it. Plot details are currently under wraps, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for updates.

Untitled morning show drama

Apple picked up not one, but two seasons of this drama series that will look at the cutthroat world of morning TV news shows, delving deep into the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning. Starring and executive produced by Jennifer Aniston (Friends) and Reese Witherspoon.

Untitled Damien Chazelle drama

“Innovative” is the only word Apple used to describe this project and it’s pretty much all we know about the show so far. That and the fact that the project will be helmed by Chazelle (La La Land). So that’s something!

Untitled Hilde Lysiak drama

This ten-episode mystery drama is inspired by the real-life story of 11-year-old Lysiak and is set to follow a young girl who moves from Brooklyn to the small lakeside town her father left behind. While there, her dogged pursuit of the truth leads her to unearth a cold case that everyone in town – including her own father – tried hard to bury. Dana Fox and Dara Resnik are at the helm of the project, while Jon M. Chu (Now You See Me 2) will direct and exec produce.

Untitled M. Night Shyamalan drama

The hit-and-miss director Shyamalan and writer Tony Basgallop (Hotel Babylon) have both been booked to create a psychological thriller series for Apple. No plot details as of yet folks, but hang in there as more details will likely trickle out in the months to come.

Untitled Ron Moore drama

Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica) is heading back to space thanks to Apple and its acquisition of his upcoming drama. Created and written by Moore, the currently untitled project has Fargo co-executive producers Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi aboard the ship too.

Untitled comedy based on You Think It, I’ll Say It

With Colleen McGuinness (30 Rock) as creator and showrunner and Kristen Wiig (The Skeleton Twins) and Reese Witherspoon as executive producers and stars, this ten-episode comedy inspired by Curtis Sittenfeld’s upcoming short story collection “You Think It, I’ll Say It” is no doubt going to be a laugh a minute.

Content Deals

Oprah Winfrey

Apple signed a multi-year content deal with Oprah Winfrey for her to create programs that will be released as part of Apple’s original content lineup. This includes everything from scripted and unscripted originals, podcasts, books, and applications.

Sesame Workshop

The streaming giant teamed up with Sesame Workshop to develop kids’ programming including live-action and animated shows, as well as a puppet series for Apple. Bad news – the deal does not include Sesame Street. You can sit down now, Big Bird.

Home

This ten-episode docuseries promises to give viewers a never-before-seen look inside the world’s most extraordinary homes and the lives of the people who dared to build them.

Carpool Karaoke

Apple has renewed the spinoff from James Corden’s Late Late Show segment for a second season (much to the critics’ dismay).

Scripted Development Projects

Foundation

Described as a show that could give Apple its edge over Netflix and Amazon is this TV adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s iconic science-fiction novel trilogy Foundation, about the complex saga of humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, all living under the rule of the Galactic Empire. David S. Goyer (Man Of Steel) and Josh Friedman (The Black Dahlia) are co-writing the script.

Shantaram

Apple recently announced it had landed the rights to develop Gregory David Robert’s same-name novel as a drama series, telling the story of Lin – a man on the run from an Australian prison looking to get lost in the teeming city of Bombay. Cut off from family and friends by distance and fate, he finds a new life in the slums, bars, and underworld of India. American Hustle writer Eric Warren Singer has penned the script.