If you’re in the market for a female-led thriller that keeps pulling the rug from under you at every turn and leaves you wondering why you don’t own a massive walk-in wardrobe and/or free-standing bath, Surface on Apple TV+ will fit that brief perfectly.  

Season one of the drama, which came out in 2022, centres on Sophie, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who has amnesia following a failed suicide attempt. She lives with her husband, James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), in an impossibly chic San Francisco townhouse, where Sophie tries to piece together who she is, what she’s done and if she can trust her partner (or indeed anyone else around her). The series ended on a cliffhanger, with Sophie faking her own death and returning home to London. 

Round two comes in hot with the action. Sophie quickly becomes embedded in a wealthy British family (the sort of people who live in those houses – the ones where you wonder who could ever afford to live there) and meets an investigative journalist, who just might be able to reveal some of the secrets she’s searching for. But it’s not long until her husband has jumped on a flight to track her down. The pair is joined in this series by Millie Brady, Phil Dunster, Joely Richardson and Freida Pinto.

Ahead. Mbatha-Raw and Jackson-Cohen tell us what to expect. 

We love to see a thriller where we’re not confronted by the body of a murdered woman.  Are we starting to see a shift in what a thriller can be?

Mbatha-Raw:  That’s what really drew me to this show: it’s female-driven, and Sophie is on an empowering journey. In the world that we’re in, it’s becoming increasingly important to have those examples of women who are taking charge of their own journey and holding the rich and powerful accountable. 

We often talk about the difficult second album, I’d love to know the experience of going into a second season – the good and the bad.

Mbatha-Raw: This difficult second album idea has been eased by the fact that we’re in London now. If season one was this rollercoaster reaching this summit in this really suspenseful nuanced way, season two just drops into London, and the pace accelerates.

Jackson-Cohen: Even though I’m from Shepherd Bush, this is only the second job I’ve ever shot in London, so it was an absolute joy. Although an awful lot takes place at night, and I’m 100 years old now, so at night shoot nowadays you get delirious at 4am. Veronica West, our showrunner, always had the idea that the show would start in San Francisco and then go to London, so season one was sort of a pre-call to the main event. 

One of the most compelling things about season one and now season two is the not knowing. As viewers, we’re constantly questioning: who’s good/who’s bad? Are we all ultimately both of those things!? Is that lack of clarity something we see more of this time too?

Mbatha-Raw: Yes, that grey area of humanity is what the show investigates. Like life, nobody is purely good or bad, and the complexities and nuances of that are what make it fun to play. So with somebody like Sophie, who seems like an innocent and is looking to the men in her life to define her and questioning: is he the bad guy? Is he the bad guy? Then realising that I might be the bad guy. And this season there are some big, shocking reveals mid-season.

In season one, we saw Sophie as someone shaped by what others told her or – like you said – defined by the men around her. In season two, does she have more agency?

Mbatha-Raw: She has a lot more agency even though the memory loss is still there. She’s on a mission, and looking for clues. Some of the most fun scenes to play are her not wanting to give away the poker face of how little she really remembers. 

Gugu, you’ve described Oliver’s character as wanting to be “an agent of chaos. He’s lost everything, has nothing left to lose.” Oliver, does that feel like an appropriate summary of the James we meet in season two?

Jackson-Cohen: Yes, very accurate! Sophie’s on this quest to find out the truth, and then James runs an absolute massive truck through her life, and happily does it.

As an executive producer on the series, Gugu, what’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned from being on the other side of the camera?

Mbatha-Raw: Diplomacy [laughs]. There are so many cooks in the kitchen, and it’s navigating people’s different skillsets and personalities. And it’s been interesting and humbling to acknowledge what I don’t know. And to always keep the audience in mind – it’s not just about acting, it’s about the experience and the audience’s journey. 

Season 1 had such a stylish aesthetic. How does the visual storytelling evolve in season 2 in London, with our sometimes less-glamorous surroundings? 

Mbatha-Raw: London always feels like a character in the show. We’re so fortunate to have these really iconic locations, at Tower Bridge, at the British Museum. There is a privileged luxury world of London in the show, in a contemporary setting, that I haven’t seen before.

James is American. Was sticking to that US accent trickier in London, Oliver?

Jackson-Cohen: I always feel like a fraud having to do any kind of accent. And it was sort of fine in season one as we were in Canada and the US, but it’s quite a different experience when you’re having a laugh with everyone and have to be like, [in a fake US accent] ‘Hey, guys!’ I had a voice coach, and I had to do American tongue twisters, but you always feel a pleb.

I had many questions I wanted answered throughout. If each of you could ask your character one question, what would it be?

Jackson-Cohen: Are you hungry? We never see him eat except for fruit. 

Mbatha-Raw [laughing] Do you miss running? [Her character is always running in season one.] But really, she’s asking so many questions of herself all the time, it’s difficult to add any more.

New episodes of Surface are released every Friday on Apple TV+ 

Images: Apple TV+