Amanda Plummer, Christopher Chung and T’Nia Miller have joined the cast of “Ascension,” Alfonso Cuarón’s psychological horror series for Apple TV, Deadline reported. They join Caitríona Balfe, who stars as Rose, and Bill Nighy, a series regular playing a documentarian named Zac. Reports on the casting have not named the characters the three new actors will play.
All three have other work in the news. Chung stars in Apple’s “Slow Horses,” renewed for a seventh and eighth season. Miller appears in Disney+’s “VisionQuest,” which airs weekly. Plummer won a Tony Award in 1982 for “Agnes of God,” played Honey Bunny in “Pulp Fiction,” and has recurred on Netflix’s “Ratched” and Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Picard.”
The one-hour series takes inspiration from Adam Nevill’s novel “Last Days.” Rose is a documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother who excels at exposing other people’s secrets and struggles with her own. Her newest project examines the Church of Ascension, a 20th-century cult. She finds comfort in its teachings until she uncovers something far more sinister. Zac, Nighy’s character, hires her for the project.
Cuarón writes the series with his brother Carlos Cuarón, Natalie Erika James and Christian White. James and White co-run the show, and James serves as lead director. Cuarón produces through his Esperanto Filmoj banner under his overall deal with Apple. Anonymous Content also produces, with Apple Studios backing the project. “Ascension” follows “Disclaimer,” his Apple drama starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline.
The series has taken a long road to the screen. Reports of the project first surfaced in 2017, when Casey Affleck was attached to star. Apple greenlit it in August with Balfe in the lead role. She also serves as an executive producer.
