Rashida Jones Explains Sunny, Her Genre-Bending Apple TV+ Show

Today, Apple TV+ premiered the third episode of its delightfully unique series, Sunny, which will continue airing weekly until September 4, 2024. The episode continues the show’s expanding mystery surrounding Susie (Rashida Jones), a widow who is realizing her husband was a very different man than she previously thought. Her revelations are assisted by a gift from her late husband — a sweet robot named Sunny that was programmed specifically by him to be there for Susie. Like several shows on Apple TV+, it’s a little difficult to describe Sunny. Japanese or American? Comedy or thriller? Sci-fi or drama?

“Yeah, it’s a lot of things,” explained star Rashida Jones (Hot Girls Wanted, Parks and Recreation). “It’s like a dark, humorous fairy tale set in near-future Japan, about a woman dealing with loss and grief and contending with a robot that is kind of like thrusted onto her, that she ends up forging a friendship with, or depending on, to pursue this mystery around her husband’s real identity and why she’s being chased.” She added:

But it’s also about, as you said, loneliness and grief and connection. And I think the distillation is humanity, whether it’s people being able to connect with each other, or this robot presence being either a hindrance or maybe even a tool in connecting with each other, or feeling connected.

Related: The Incredible Stars of Sunny Discuss the High-Tech Robotics in Their Performances

Watch Our Interview with Rashida Jones and Co-Star Hidetoshi Nishijima

Rashida Jones Explains Her Character’s Journey in Sunny

Sunny (2024)

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Suzie, an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan, grapples with the mysterious disappearance of her husband and son in a plane crash. Given a domestic robot named Sunny by her husband’s company, Suzie initially resents Sunny but soon they form a unique bond. Together, they uncover the dark truth behind her family’s disappearance, becoming entangled in a dangerous and hidden world.

Release Date July 10, 2024

Cast Rashida Jones , Hidetoshi Nishijima , Joanna Sotomura , Judy Ongg , Jun Kunimura

Seasons 1

Writers Katie Robbins

Streaming Service(s) Apple TV+

Directors Lucy Tcherniak

Showrunner Katie Robbins

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“There is this sort of thing people say, that you keep inviting the lessons you need to learn into your life,” said Jones in a poetic portrait of her character’s almost self-destructive path to growth and healing. She continued:

“Susie was running away from her life to sort of
delve deeper into her own loneliness, to go to Japan
, and then upon arrival, immediately meeting a guy who does just that. He disrupts this kind of idyllic idea of loneliness, because he suffered the worst he possibly can, hikikomori, and
she’s romanticized it
. It’s like, it’s not romantic. And then that person being, you know, not the cure to her loneliness, but a way kind of out of this path that she’d decided is the only path for her.”

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“The show [starts] with the thing that was kind of her salvation being gone, and also being fully brought into question, because she’s not even sure who he was anymore,” added Jones about Sunny beginning directly after her husband’s disappearance. “So, she gave herself over in this kind of romantic ideal, and now it’s all gone again. So she’s confronted with this big lesson, which is — can she depend on other people, and sometimes robots, to help her discover the truth about her husband’s past, and maybe even help her connect in a way that she thought she never would again.”

Sunny is streaming on Apple TV+. You can watch it through the link below:

Watch Sunny

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