The full trailer for Netflix’s new series What/If welcomes Renée Zellweger to her first starring role in a television series, as she offers co-star Jane Levy an indecent proposal. The streaming giant offered a brief sneak peek and a premiere date announcement just last week, with a teaser trailer that didn’t deliver any actual footage from the show, but instead opted to hint at the concept with one heavy metaphor. The result is a broadcast network-style drama on a streaming platform, with an Academy Award winner in the lead role.
If the series’ tone feels familiar that’s because What/If hails from Revenge creator Mike Kelley, who takes a similarly soapy approach to what looks to be a seductive and accessible thriller. And with a cast that features the aforementioned Zellweger and Levy (Evil Dead, Castle Rock), as well as Blake Jenner (Everyone Wants Some), Westworld’s Louis Herthum, and Dave Annable (Yellowstone), it looks as though the series will have plenty of supporting character threads to help it explore the moral gray waters it seems so eager to splash around in.
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The full trailer spells out what the show’s story is, positioning Levy’s Lisa as an entrepreneur in need of funding, who happens to be offered just that boy Zellweger’s Anne Montgomery, a powerful venture capitalist. The only catch is, in exchange for the capital, Anne gets a night alone with Lisa’s husband Sean (Jenner). Take a look at the trailer below:
There’s certainly an intriguing level of sordid trashiness that’s aiming to capitalize on not only the cast’s appeal, but the audience’s recollection (or lack thereof) of the 1993 Robert Redford and Demi Moore drama Indecent Proposal. To the credit of What/If, it looks as though this seres has more up its sleeve than a simple gender-flipped recreation of a not-as-steamy-as-you’d-think-it’d-be psychosexual drama.
If nothing else, the series demonstrates the lengths to which Netflix is willing to go in order to be the primary source of entertainment for everyone. A likely Zellweger-less version of the drama would have been right at home on ABC just a few seasons ago, but now with the Netflix Originals sheen on it, What/If may find itself appealing to a much wider audience.
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What/If season 1 premieres Friday, May 24 exclusively on Netflix.
