Rashida Jones' Canceled Apple TV+ Show Could Have Been A Sci-Fi Classic

Rashida Jones is one of those actors who turn up just about everywhere. She played Louisa Fenn on the Fox high school faculty drama "Boston Public," she was lawyer Marylin Delpy in David Fincher's "The Social Network" (which is now getting a sequel, albeit without Fincher and, presumably, Jones), and her character Ann Perkins was an important part of the NBC hit sitcom "Parks and Recreation." She's also been known to work on sci-fi projects as of late, appearing in the "Black Mirror" season 7 opener ("Common People") as Amanda and playing the decoy protagonist Allison Becker in "Silo," one of the best sci-fi shows on Apple TV+.

As it happens, however, these aren't Jones' only recent science-fiction endeavors. In 2024, she starred in another Apple TV+ show — one that could have become a stone cold classic if it wasn't for the fact that it was canceled after just one season. Said series was "Sunny," a dark comedy which pairs Jones' Suzie Sakamoto with a very Apple-coded humanoid domestic robot called Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura). Based on Colin O'Sullivan's novel "The Dark Manual," the show was admired by the critics but never got a chance to fully find its legs before it was cut short.

The cutesy design of the Sunny robot belies the complexity of its namesake series, as does the apparent "odd couple" premise. "Sunny" is a show about grief, confusion, cultural detachment, and the dangers of artificial intelligence all rolled up in one. Jones puts in some of her career-best work as Suzie, a tech-averse American whose Japanese robotics expert husband Masahiko (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and their son Zen (Fares Belkheir) have died in a plane crash. What's more, Masahiko's company has decided to help Suzie — now all alone in Japan — by giving her Sunny, a helpful household robot she utterly loathes from the beginning.

However, it soon becomes evident that nothing in this situation is as it seems. After she starts suspecting that Masahiko and Zen are still alive and Sunny is key to finding out the truth, Suzie forms a tentative partnership with the robot — and before she knows, she's in the middle of a leisurely-paced and moody yet captivating and twist-filled thriller story where dangerous organizations and colorful characters wait behind every corner. The end result is a powerful, beautiful show that shares some of its thoroughly unpredictable sci-fi mystery DNA with fellow Apple TV+ show "Severance" (which, incidentally, features Jones' "Parks and Rec" co-star Adam Scott).

Though Apple hasn't officially confirmed the reason behind the cancellation, such things generally hinge on viewer numbers, so it's possible that "Sunny" simply didn't find its audience. It's also worth noting that the show was filmed completely in Japan and looks utterly gorgeous throughout, so budget issues may have been in play as well. Still, the first and only season of the show is available for viewing on Apple TV+ ... and if you're a fan of Jones, quirky sci-fi, or both, it's well worth checking out.