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Netflix’s Autism Comedy Series ‘Atypical’ Trailer Released

By Trisha Faulkner
Published on: 16:19 PST, Jul 18, 2017

Netflix has just released the trailer for its newest original series which will be focused on autism. Atypical has been categorized as an autism comedy. The series will focus on the struggles of a family with a verbal autistic teenage male.

According to The Mighty, the eight episodes of Atypical focus on the story of a verbal autistic teenager named Sam Gardner (played by Keir Gilchrist). As a teenager, the trailer of the series reveals that Sam just wants what every other teenage boy driven by their hormones wants as well – love and sex. Sam is a senior in high school, and the series focuses on him and his family as they attempt to master school, love, dating, and everything in between. Actors Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michael Rapaport will be playing the roles of Sam’s parents in the Netflix autism comedy.

According to Robia Rashid, fans of love stories have seen the quest to find your significant other played out from the point of view of someone who is neurotypical time and time again. Atypical is a chance for viewers to watch the journey for love and relationships from the eyes of someone who isn’t neurotypical. Robia Rashid – who is both the creator and executive producer of the series – fell in love with the idea of a familiar story being told from an unfamiliar point of view.

“I liked the idea of telling a familiar story — the search for those things — from a different perspective, from a voice that’s not often heard.”

Rashid revealed to The Mighty that a great deal of time was spent researching during the creation of the show. For example, Robia spent a lot of time listening to podcasts, reading books, reading blogs, and even having conversations with people who are on the spectrum. She also revealed to have someone close to her who has autism. The personal connection was part of her inspiration for creating the series.

“Because of that I, felt like if I was going to write this show, I had to do it very thoughtfully and — to the best of my ability — get it right.”

While the leading actor Keir Gilchrist is not autistic, Anthony Jacques – another member of the cast – is. Anthony plays the role of Sam’s friend in the series. Robia Rashid also worked with a number of programs and organization that help individuals with autism in order to make the show as real and believable as possible.

While Aytpical has been categorized as an autism comedy, Robia believes the series goes beyond autism and focuses on the struggles of not being a normal teenager.

The trailer also gives a brief taste of the fact that the series will spend some time focusing on the struggle of being the parents of an autistic child. There is one moment in the trailer where fans can see the real strain autism parenting can put in the relationship.

All eight episodes of Atypical will be added to Netflix on August 11.

[Featured Image by Chris Pizzello & Evan Agostini/AP Images]

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