The clip opens in the space station, with a circular fogged up window where the words “Help me,” are etched into the fog. It’s the handsome ex-lover of Molly Woods, the character played by Halle Berry in CBS’s new sci-fi drama Extant, and after she opens the door to the space station, Molly Woods floats backwards in zero-gravity, while her ex-lover steps on board, his face betraying little, if any, emotion.

The music is creepy, the visuals spotless, and the premise unusual. It’s only Halle Berry’s second television series she’s worked for in her career and when asked why she chose it, she said:

“There were so many elements but probably the first one was being a mother. This was a character when I first read it that was so relatable to me. I felt like it was just in my DNA. I had a knowingness about this character. I had a fundamental understanding. While I’m not an astronaut or scientist, far, far from it, I still had an understanding about the human quality of this woman and her struggle to not only find time for herself, which is what she loves to do, … but also to be a good mother.

“She’s strong. She’s complicated. I’m complicated. But she has a will to survive, to win. She’s good at her heart.”

Extant pervades mysteries in the premise alone, with Berry’s character Molly Woods returning home from a solo stint in space pregnant, to find relations strained with her husband John, who has created their son through artificial intelligence.

For Berry to prepare for the role, Greg Walker, one of the executive producers behind Extant, said Berry “did a lot of research. She spoke to a NASA consultant. She went up in the Zero G plane. . . . So she was a true gamer. She was a die-hard.”

And regarding that Zero G plane…

“She didn’t get sick,” said Walker. “People around her when they were shooting up in the airplane where she went to test and experience Zero G, people around her got sick, but, no, she didn’t. She made it to the very end. She toughed it out.”

It is CBS’s second sci-fi drama series premiere in two years. After the success of the adaptation of Stephen King’s Under the Dome, Extant promises 13 episodes of summer sci-fi goodness.

Berry believes the best writing for women especially is on television and reading the Extant script immediately hooked her. “The minute I started to read (Extant), I couldn’t put it down. I thought, ‘Wow. This is different.’ It’s innovative.”

The premiere of Extant is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9, on CBS.

Image via Wikimedia Commons