The teaser trailer for Netflix’s Daybreak imagines what would it be like if Matthew Broderick and a bunch of teenagers found themselves fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The series and Broderick’s casting were announced late last year, as filming was about to get underway. And though news surrounding the series has been mostly quiet, Netflix is finally ready to unleash the apocalypse on Generation Z… and Broderick doing his thing.
The series comes from co-creators Aron Eli Colette (Star Trek: Discovery) and director Brad Peyton (Rampage, San Andreas), along with executive producer Jeff Fierson (Frontier). And, in addition to Broderick, Daybreak stars Colin Ford (Under the Dome), Ashtin Crute (Atlanta), and Alyvia Alyn Lind (Future Man) as a trio of teens (and pre-teens) ready to remake the world in their image after a nuclear attack sends the world into a fever dream that blends George Miller and Skins in one crazy package.
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The teaser seems more focused on the apocalypse offering students a welcome break from the drudgery of high school, as Broderick is in full Election mode as Principal Burr, offering a thoroughly rousing morning announcement over the PA. From there, its all-out Thunderdome, as the usual high school cliques become a variety of wasteland gangs vying for survival. Check out the teaser for Daybreak below:
Though it seems to be mostly a pastiche of the Mad Max films, one that (perhaps inadvertently) hews rather closely to the Rick and Morty parody of the franchise in ‘Rickmancing the Stone,’ Daybreak may well deliver an entertaining high school satire set against the backdrop of the end of the world. It’s understandable that the teaser would want to attract an audience by focusing on the series’ action, comedy, and what looks to be high levels of violence, but it does seem to have missed a step in between bored students and blood-thirsty bands of teens. Hopefully, the finished product will offer less parody and more original ideas.
“In this post-apocalyptic, genre-bending series, the city of Glendale, California is populated by marauding gangs of jocks, gamers, the 4-H Club, and other fearsome tribes who are kicking ass as they fight to survive in the wake of a nuclear blast (on the night of Homecoming…ugh). Following an eclectic group of survivors as they navigate this strange and treacherous world, DAYBREAK is part samurai saga, part endearing coming-of-age story, and part Battle Royale.”
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Daybreak will stream exclusively on Netflix beginning Thursday, October 24.
