Created and written by Robia Rashid for Netflix, Atypical is a recently released dark comedy TV series which premiered in August this year. The first season comprises eight episodes and follows the life of an 18-year-old autistic boy Sam who encounters various obstacles in his search for love. Here’s how Robia Rashid herself described the series: “The theme of Atypical is that no one’s normal, but Sam’s probably the most normal one of all of them. One of the cool things about Atypical is that this is a guy who’s just like all of us.”
Even though some people do not like the fact that the series relies on so many stereotypical autistic traits, generally speaking, it received positive reviews. Keir Gilchrist, who portrays the main character, has explained that he has some autistic friends in private life, which helped him play this role. “For whatever reason — I don’t think it was purposeful or anything — I just happen to have a lot of friends with siblings or friends growing up or even neighbors … [who] were on the spectrum,” the actor said. “I just kind of happened to have a little extra experience with, which definitely helped with preparing for the role and even auditioning. I just kind of came to the table with a little more personal experience,” Gilchrist added.
In addition to Gilchrist (known for “Dark Summer” and “It Follows”), the rest of the crew members include Jennifer Jason Leigh as Sam’s mother Elsa, Brigette Lundy-Paine as Sam’s sister Casey, Michael Rapaport as their father Doug, and Amy Okuda, who plays Sam’s therapist Julia.
Much to all fans’ delight, a couple of days ago, Netflix has confirmed that Atypical will be renewed for Season 2. We still don’t know for sure when exactly we can expect the new batch of episodes to be released, but we assume that they will probably deliver it next year, most likely in August, just like it was the case with the first one. Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated.
