'The First' Trailer: Sean Penn Is Headed To Mars For Hulu

Sean Penn, actor and author of Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, is headed to Mars in The First, a new Hulu drama from House of Cards creator Beau Willimon. The series is set in the not-too-distant future, and focuses on the challenges of trying to get to the red planet. Watch the First trailer below.

The First Trailer

The First wasn't on my radar at all, but after this trailer, I'm very intrigued. The series looks visually stunning, and has a very impressive cast –Sean Penn, Natascha McElhone, LisaGay Hamilton, Hannah Ware, Keiko Agena, Rey Lucas, James Ransone, Anna Jacoby-Heron, Brian Lee Franklin and Oded Fehr. I spotted fantastic character actor Bill Camp in this trailer as well, but he's not mentioned in the cast list for some strange reason. Hulu, wyd? Where's the Bill Camp love?

Sean Penn can turn in a very good performance when he's not being problematic in real life, and the way he delivers the Carl Sagan quote here – "Every human being who ever was, lived out their lives...on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." – gave me goosebumps. That said, this is an abbreviated version of the quote. The full thing is much more powerful:

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

In The First, "Sean Penn leads an ensemble cast in this near-future drama about a crew of astronauts attempting to become the first humans on Mars. Under the direction of visionary aerospace magnate Laz Ingram (Natascha McElhone), the crew contends with peril and personal sacrifice as they undertake the greatest pioneering feat in human history." The series hails from Beau Willimon, creator of Netflix's House of Cards. Willimon's seasons with that show were the best, which is very promising for The First. I'm always down for some emotional, intelligent yet grounded sci-fi, and The Firs might just deliver that.

All eight episodes of The First debut on Friday, September 14, 2018 only on Hulu.