‘Leftovers’ explores a quiet apocalypse

  • By Frazier Moore Associated Press
  • Thursday, June 26, 2014 1:13pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

Not long ago, 2 percent of the world’s population vanished. Quietly, instantly, with no provocation.

This unfathomable loss continues to haunt all those left behind, including residents of the small New York town that serves as the setting for “The Leftovers,” HBO’s eerie new drama premiering at 10 p.m. Sunday.

The 10-episode series brushes over the seminal event, picking up the story as the third anniversary of the Sudden Departure nears. It finds the locals (played by a cast that includes Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Chris Eccleston, Carrie Coon, Liv Tyler and Michael Gaston) mired in grief, bewilderment and discord.

“They have to find a way to come together, but some people are going to be able to achieve that — and others aren’t,” says Damon Lindelof.

“The Leftovers” was co-created by Lindelof (of ABC’s “Lost”) and Tom Perrotta (who wrote the novel that inspired it). Earlier this week they joined an Associated Press reporter to discuss their new project.

Perrotta: “It’s a different kind of apocalyptic story, because the physical world remains intact. It deals with the psychological adjustment to trauma. It follows what people make of this mysterious, traumatic event, which doesn’t fit into either a scientific or religious framework.”

Lindelof: “Some people just try to go back to the way things were before this thing happened. Other people say, ‘This was a sign. I can’t continue to operate the same way, now that this cosmic event has occurred.’ The opportunity we had was to write a show with characters who, in wildly different ways, were trying to get on with their lives. This allows us to execute a genre show that doesn’t feel like a genre show: The only piece of genre happened three years ago, leaving all the characters now to filter their world through the very strange prism it created.”

Perrotta: “After all, how long can they discuss this thing that has no answers? No one has anything new to add to the conversation. In fact, the Guilty Remnants” — a nihilistic cult that wears spectral white, chain-smokes and never speaks — “has adopted a vow of silence in part because they feel there’s nothing to say.”

Lindelof: “This is not a meditation on grief, per se. But everybody on the show is suffering some kind of post-traumatic stress. Even if they’re pretending not to still be affected, there’s now a part of them where, if the friend you were just talking to has stepped around the corner out of sight, you’re programmed to go, ‘Oh, my God, it’s just happened again!”’

Here in Mapleton, and around the world, the “leftovers” are dogged by the same awful unknowns about those who disappeared: What happened to them on that Oct. 14 upheaval? Where have they gone? And why them? What underlying common denominator could possibly link a local infant named Sam with Shaquille O’Neal and Gary Busey among the millions plucked from sight as if at random?

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.