Jurnee Smollett gained twenty pounds of muscle to inhabit Michelle Calderone, a former Marine now working as an arson investigator in Apple TV+ thriller Smoke, midway through its nine-episode run after debuting with a two-episode premiere on June 27.
The actor told People that the added mass helped convey a soldier’s “muscular presence,” a goal pursued with trainer Jeanette Jenkins through progressively heavier lifts. Smollett also conducted ride-alongs with fire investigators and spoke with Marines to ground the performance in real procedure.
Smoke, created by novelist Dennis Lehane and produced by Apple Studios, pairs Smollett with Taron Egerton as a detective chasing serial arsonists across Boston’s disused waterfronts, a storyline inspired by the Firebug podcast. Episodes land each Friday until the finale on August 15.
Apple’s teaser surpassed five million YouTube views within two months of release, signalling strong interest ahead of its launch on the service’s global platform. Rotten Tomatoes lists the season at 83 percent with critics praising the leads’ chemistry even as some describe the pacing as a deliberate slow burn.
Smollett’s overhaul reflects a wider trend: Women’s Health detailed her shift from body-weight circuits to hip thrusts, sumo squats and deadlifts heavy enough to exceed her own weight. Sports physiologist Alan Ruck notes that gaining that volume over eight months requires a daily 500-calorie surplus and meticulous recovery to avoid injury.
Greg Kinnear, Rafe Spall and John Leguizamo round out the ensemble, while Kari Skogland directs several episodes shot in British Columbia and Massachusetts, blending LED-volume fire sequences with practical stunts. Apple has yet to confirm a second season, but Lehane said writers’ room notes already map further cases should viewership remain steady.
