The Lazarus Project (TV series)

The Lazarus Project (originally titled Extinction) is a British science fiction television series created by Joe Barton and starring Paapa Essiedu. The series premiered on 16 June 2022. In August 2022, the show was renewed for a second series, which premiered on 15 November 2023. In March 2024, the show was cancelled after two series.

Series 1
George awakes on the morning of 1 July 2022. Six months later, he awakens and discovers that it is 1 July again, but neither his girlfriend Sarah nor anyone else seems to notice. Another six months later, it reverts to 1 July, and he is approached by Archie, a mysterious woman who invites him to the secret office of the Lazarus Project. George learns that he is one of only 0.000001% of the population with a mutant gene that grants the possibility of organically – after hundreds of time reverts – coming to remember that reverts are occurring.

He joins the project team, which works to prevent apocalyptic threats by observing their causes, then instigating a time reset (always back to the most recent 1 July, thus the calendar can move forward if no reset is needed) to address their causes. The team works on a scale starting with the minimum amount of adjustments, escalating through diplomacy, physical intervention, or even implementing a large scale (small, when compared to an apocalypse) amount of death and destruction.

In summer 2023, Sarah is killed in a vehicle accident, and with the following 1 July "too late to reset this year" point approaching, and no pending apocalyptic threat requiring a reset by the Lazarus team, George breaks every rule of the Lazarus Project by instigating a full nuclear war between Russia and America to save one person, rather than millions or billions. The project lead, Wes, triggers a reset and the team succeeds (mostly because George simply does not repeat his previous actions) in preventing the war. However, the team then has to deal with the unintended cascading consequences of George's original selfish action.

At the end of the first series, as 1 July 2024 approaches and with other repercussions still unfolding, the team is stunned to learn that the Chinese have apparently attempted to build their own time reset mechanism, creating a second nearby black hole which conflicts with the original Lazarus black hole and plunges the universe into a self-triggering, endless, three week time loop – reverting back from every 21 July 2024.

Series 2
At the start of the second series, George gives Sarah the memory serum, and Wes recruits her to the Lazarus Project. The Lazarus team learns of the Time Break Initiative. The Initiative, led by Wes' husband Lerner, has been building and perfecting a Time Machine since (at least) the early 2010s, and their test on 21 July 2024 is responsible for creating the second black hole and the self-triggering three week time loop. Realizing that the loop will eventually unravel the universe, the Initiative kidnaps genius former Lazarus agent Janet and her daughter Becky, sending them back to 1 July 2012 so that Janet can help the scientific genius behind the Initiative perfect her equations, hoping to prevent the universe-ending events of 2024.

In 2024, the Lazarus team uses the next 35+ loops (an accumulation of 2 years of experience for those able to remember the loops) to learn of, then track down, the sole surviving Time Break Initiative scientist, Samson. Wes sends George, Sarah, Samson and four other Lazarus agents back to 1 July 2012 to kill the eight scientists (including 2024 Janet and 2012 Samson) who have expertise regarding the time machine technology, before it is fully developed. All the scientists (including both Samsons) are killed, but only George, two versions of Becky and one other agent survive to time travel back to 22 July 2024 – the universe-threatening loop is broken. George finds 2024 Sarah also survived, having returned to 2024 by living through the intervening 12 years; Sarah has since taken over from Wes as leader of the Lazarus Project.

Main

 * Paapa Essiedu as George, with the time-loop awareness gene
 * Anjli Mohindra as Archie, who was recruited to the Lazarus team with a time-loop awareness serum
 * Rudi Dharmalingam as Shiv, with the time-loop awareness gene
 * Charly Clive as Sarah, George's wife (later reset) / fiancée (later reset) / Lazarus confidant (after he gives her the serum)
 * Caroline Quentin as Elisabeth 'Wes' Wesley, Lazarus Project team lead
 * Tom Burke as Rebrov, former Lazarus agent who comes to feel that humanity clearly wants apocalypse


 * Brian Gleeson as Ross, Archie's teammate and lover, who dies forever while preventing an apocalypse
 * Vinette Robinson as Janet, Rebrov's wife and a former Lazarus agent who shares his opinion of the project
 * Alec Utgoff as Rudy (series 1), an arms dealer who supplies George with a nuclear bomb

Recurring

 * Lorn Macdonald as Blake (series 1)
 * Lukas Loughran as Erik "the Dane" Eriksen
 * Salóme Gunnarsdóttir as Greta
 * Enyi Okoronkwo as Laurence (series 1)
 * Tommy Letts as Ryan (series 1)
 * Elaine Tan as Zhang Rhui
 * Bradley John as Reggie
 * Priya-Rose Brookwell as 6-year-old Becky (series 2)
 * Sam Troughton as Dr. Samson (series 2)
 * Zoe Telford as Dr. Kitty Gray (series 2)
 * Colin Salmon as Robin Lerner (series 2)
 * Safia Oakley-Green as 18-year-old Becky (series 2)
 * Dan Li as Dr. Li (series 2)

Production
Produced by Urban Myth Films, the series features Marco Kreuzpaintner, Akaash Meeda, and Laura Scrivano as directors. Under its working title of Extiction, filming took place in second quarter of 2021 in Cardiff, Bristol, Prague and Postoloprty.

In February 2023, Empire printed first look images from the filming of the second series, with Colin Salmon, Royce Pierreson, Safia Oakley-Green, Lorne MacFayden, Zoe Telford, Sam Troughton and James Atherton having been added to the cast. Filming locations on the second series in Bristol included Old Market, Easton, Bedminster, Fishponds, Henbury, Clifton and St Paul's.

Release
The first trailer was revealed in February 2022. After being retitled, The Lazarus Project aired in the UK on Sky Max and Now from 16 June 2022. In the United States, TNT aired the series; it premiered on 4 June 2023.

Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Lazarus Project holds an approval rating of 100% based on 14 reviews.

The series has received positive reviews for its storyline and performances. Lucy Mangan of The Guardian awarded it four stars out of five, praising the writing, tension created by the premise and cast. Nicole Vassell, writing for The Independent, gave it three stars, writing "Though a little under-explained and occasionally simplistic, The Lazarus Project has a bright concept behind it with satisfying bursts of action." The Daily Telegraph gave it three stars.

Accolades
The series won in the Best Special Effects category at the 2022 Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards. In March 2024, Essiedu was nominated in the Best Leading Actor category at the 2024 British Academy Television Awards.