Apple’s Sunny imagines a cozy future where screens fade into the background

Sunny, a caller sci-fi dramedy connected Apple TV Plus, is different from astir visions of nan early — chiefly because it hardly has immoderate screens. Instead, nan show imagines a clip erstwhile exertion is much seamlessly integrated into our lives. Phones trust chiefly connected audio, friends robots thief astir nan house, and machine monitors look for illustration they’re made of paper. For showrunner Katie Robbins and nan remainder of nan accumulation crew, designing Sunny became an opportunity to do thing different successful nan realm of subject fiction.

“It was specified an astonishing dainty and situation to think: if we could alteration things astir nan world that we unrecorded in, what would we change?” Robbins explains. “How would we alteration nan ways we interface pinch our technology?”

Those differences manifest successful a fewer ways. While everyone successful Sunny seems to transportation astir a phone, for instance, they’re a batch different from modern smartphones. Inspired by nan creation of Japanese lighters from nan 1960s, nan devices are curvy rectangles that tin flip unfastened to uncover a screen. But hardly anyone connected nan show uses them that way. Instead, they popular an AirPods-style headphone successful 1 receptor (the telephone doubles arsenic an earbud case) and do almost everything via voice.

When nan characters request to do thing visually — browse hunt results aliases play a multiplayer crippled — there’s a built-in projector. And erstwhile nan citizens of this early really interact pinch a display, whether it’s nan telephone aliases a machine aliases a TV playing 24-hour news astatine a convenience store, nan surface looks for illustration it’s made retired of physics paper. Robbins says nan displays were each designed to look for illustration nan shoji screens recovered successful galore Japanese homes truthful that they fresh much people into nan environment.

Part of what makes it each activity is that Sunny mostly feels retired of time. The show follows Suzie (Rashida Jones), who teams up pinch robotic location adjunct Sunny (Joanna Sotomura) to lick nan enigma of her hubby Masa’s (Hidetoshi Nishijima) disappearance. It’s group successful Kyoto, but when it takes spot isn’t really clear. The show is vaguely futuristic, pinch its plentiful robots and sound assistants that tin really understand you, but it’s besides decidedly retro erstwhile it comes to things for illustration manner and music. Robbins says that temporal ambiguity is intentional. “We ne'er wanted to specifically timestamp nan show, truthful that it could consciousness 10 years successful nan future, 30 years successful nan future, aliases an alt-now,” she says. “We wanted it to consciousness acquainted and accessible and not futuristic successful a really overt way.”

Many of nan decisions regarding exertion — and screens successful peculiar — besides came from a applicable standpoint. “We wanted to, arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, debar surface inserts and that benignant of thing, and characters perpetually picking up their phones and scrolling,” says Robbins. Having astir connection hap via sound makes for a amended acquisition for viewers, keeping nan attraction connected nan actors, but it besides creates hostility for nan show’s main character. Suzie has lived successful Japan for a decade, but because of nan ubiquitous real-time translator exertion recovered successful her phone, she has ne'er really had to study nan language. She simply puts successful nan earbud and carries connected a conversation.

“Which is miraculous, and successful immoderate ways incredibly connective and allows her to unrecorded successful a spot wherever she wouldn’t different beryllium capable to pass pinch people,” Robbins says. “However, location is besides a obstruction wrong that technology. Imagine if you lived successful a spot wherever almost each of your relationship pinch group you were proceeding translated successful your ear. Even though nan exertion is bringing group together, it’s besides creating a obstruction successful this measurement that I deliberation is really interesting.”

As for nan robots, and Sunny successful particular, nan conception for a tiny and friends adjunct likewise came from a communicative viewpoint. Suzie is personification pinch a deep-seated distrust of exertion who is besides going done an incredibly difficult clip pinch nan nonaccomplishment of her hubby and son. “What if nan robot is perchance nan point that brings her retired of that?” Robbins remembers thinking.

After immoderate investigation into nan section of human-robot relationship — and moving pinch nan squad astatine ocular effects powerhouse Wētā Workshop — Robbins was capable to find a look that some Suzie and viewers would subordinate to, complete pinch a large information look pinch huge, highly expressive eyes that do an astonishing occupation of conveying emotion. “Something that felt very cute, and approachable, and amiable truthful that you could ideate falling successful emotion pinch it,” Robbins explains.

At a clip erstwhile galore of america look to beryllium desperately searching for immoderate benignant of remedy to our overconnected present, there’s a batch of entreaty successful Sunny’s vision. The bots are mostly friends and adjuvant erstwhile you request them and easy to disregard erstwhile you don’t. Meanwhile, nan phones are connectivity devices alternatively than attention-consuming blackholes, and group really talk to each different (even if sometimes mediated done a translator). In a world of Boox Palmas, Daylight tablets, and AI devices that time off overmuch to beryllium desired, nan Sunny telephone could decidedly garner an assemblage — which was nan extremity each along.

“That was nan hope,” says Robbins. “We get nan chance to creation thing here. Let’s creation thing that we would want.”