The writer of Contagion, Scott Z. Burns, returns with a new and thought-provoking eight-episode series, Extrapolations, which is now streaming on Apple TV+. This anthology looks to a day in the not-so-distant future when the consequences of climate change begin to stack up around us. On top of the poignant scripts, Extrapolations boasts a stellar cast to tell these alarming stories, and Collider’s Steve Weintraub was able to sit down and chat with Grammy and Tony Award-winner, Daveed Diggs, best known for his performance in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, who joins the ranks of Meryl Streep, Edward Norton, Tobey Maguire, and more in this upcoming series.
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In his interview, Diggs best explains Extrapolations by saying, “one of the particular things that science fiction is great at is extrapolating ourselves a little bit, like moving a little bit ahead of our current moment.” In Burns’ episodic series, we see the uncomfortably-near future in digestible Black Mirror-esque vignettes that show all mankind has accomplished like humans on Mars and the cure for cancer, yet the planet itself is crumbling around us. Diggs tells us Burns looks at the bigger picture by zeroing in on personal stories, with a touch of whimsy in dreamlike sequences in which Diggs will tap into his musical roots, and discusses the repercussions of our inaction we’re seeing today.

The star-studded cast also includes Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, Keri Russell, Sienna Miller, Marion Cotillard, Diane Lane, and Forest Whitaker. In addition to this massive talent, Diggs shares what it was like working with his up-and-coming co-star, Neska Rose, who he says is “wonderful,” and also shares a little bit about his time on the set of Disney’s highly-anticipated The Little Mermaid with star Halle Bailey!

For more on the show, check out the review by Collider’s Chase Hutchinson that says, “…it pushes us to reflect on one of the most important questions of our age: what is it that will happen if we fail to prevent the coming catastrophe?”

COLLIDER: I’ve seen the whole series, it’s fantastic. I’m really happy that it was made, it deals with incredibly important subject matter. I’m assuming that’s the reason why you got invited or was it just because you saw Scott Burns’ name on the screenplay?

DAVEED DIGGS: Maybe a little bit of both. I mean, I read the two episodes that Marshall is in and fell in love with the story of that particular character. So, yeah, it was the kind of art I want to make that is trying to do something greater than the sum of its parts, and then also it was just a great script.

Image via Apple TV+

Yeah, this is also the kind of show that I want to promote because it deals with the most important stuff that we could possibly deal with, you know?

DIGGS: Yeah, yeah. It’s funny, I’ve been thinking about this a lot today while speaking about it, is just that it feels a little silly to create a big splashy show to be like, “Climate change exists,” which feel like table stakes, but that’s the problem, it is table stakes. We’re not forced to look at it a lot, it just is the world that we’re living in. So I think one of the particular things that science fiction is great at is extrapolating ourselves a little bit, like moving a little bit ahead of our current moment and then being like, “Look at yourself. Look at the choice that you’re making, and this is the consequences of those actions,” and that’s something that this genre is so good at. So, yeah, it’s a good use of it.

Also, the show does a really great job at focusing on real people, like just people living their lives, as well as the big issues that the world leaders are trying to tackle, all in one series.

DIGGS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that was my favorite thing about it really was just these very personal stories. Then, some of the folks we’re looking at are also world leaders, you know? But we’re still involved in their personal drama. Some of them are scientists, but we’re still involved in their personal drama. [There are] people’s jobs and there’s the world that we live in, and then [there are] people. Everybody is just people, and we all experience so much of the same things.

Image via Apple TV+

One of the things, I think in one of your episodes, it’s a very powerful shot of the congregation sitting there all wearing boots–

DIGGS: Rain boots, yeah.

Because our nation is flooded, and that’s just the future that’s coming.

DIGGS: Yeah, I love that so much. Yeah, that image and that not-too-distant future if you’re at what now is about sea level, that’s not an unfathomable thing, and it’s happened in some places in the world already. That Miami would be in that position is not… is something that building developers, they’re already thinking about, right? That land is becoming unusable because it is going to be underwater.

I think another thing that the series kind of subtly hints at is that capitalism is a few steps ahead of policy in these discussions always, right? Because it is a better machine and so those are the people out there doing the research being like, “Hey, this is going to be underwater now so if you’re going to sell it, you better sell it fast. It’s gonna be way harder to sell this when it’s underwater.” That stuff is scary.

Image via Apple TV+

I think about the fact that I will never move to Florida even if you paid me. For many reasons, but that’s one of them. I definitely have to touch on, real fast, your scene partner, I believe her name is Neska [Rose], she is fantastic.

DIGGS: How wonderful is she?

Not only is she fantastic, but the writing between the two of you is just next level and it’s really shining a light. I mean, it’s just so well done. Can you talk about her performance and the writing of those scenes?

DIGGS: I mean, yeah, obviously those scenes were what got me to do the test. The script’s totally brilliant and it does this thing where she is leading, you know? Marshall is at this somewhat apathetic moment in his life until she comes along and starts challenging him. But she does lead those scenes, so you need an actor who can do, a very young actor who can do that, and she is so wonderful.

Day one, I was like, “Oh yeah, it is her scene, that’s definitely her scene. I’m definitely along for the ride.” She’s so much fun to work with, and there’s the whole dream ballet situation of it too. We got to do a lot of fun stuff together, which is also great.

Was it in the script that they were gonna have you sing, or was it once you got cast Scott was like, “You know, I’m thinking about a song.”?

DIGGS: I honestly don’t remember. Yeah, I can’t remember. I don’t know if it was in there initially, but by the time I got there, I knew it was going to happen. It wasn’t sprung on me by the time I showed up, but I think we had some conversations about it where it was like, “Hey, what would you think of…?” I think. Yeah, it’s hard for me to remember which came first.

Image via Apple TV+

How much of the series have you actually seen?

DIGGS: I’ve actually just seen the first three. I’ve read a few of the other ones beforehand, but yeah, I haven’t seen the finished versions.

I will just say that it’s kind of fantastic. Just throwing that out there. Obviously, like everyone, I’ve actually heard some good things about The Little Mermaid movie through my little rumor mill of Disney. What does it mean for you to be part of that project?

DIGGS: I mean, I’m sort of stunned. I was stunned that they wanted me to be part of it and then every moment of working on it was like, “Whoa, this is what I get to do right now?” I am also eagerly anticipating the release of it, but what I can tell you is that Halle [Bailey] is unbelievable. I know that because I was next to her a lot of the time while she was learning that role, and yeah, she’s… It’s really phenomenal.

My last thing for you, what are you actually filming this year? I’m a really big fan of your work and I’m just curious.

DIGGS: Oh man, I mean, some stuff I’m about to go shoot that I don’t know where I am with being allowed to talk about it. But movies, back to doing some movies which will be cool, and then yeah, Season 2 of Blindspotting is coming out very soon, middle of April. So, yeah, that’s exciting. I’m actually going to go premiere the second season at SXSW next week, so that’s very exciting. Yeah, writing a bunch of things. There’s a new Clipping album coming out in the fall. Yeah, a lot of it’s going to be a good year.

Extrapolations is now streaming exclusively on Apple TV+.