Far from home

HILARY SWANK HAS MARS IN HER EYES IN AWAY...

- James Mottram

There were never going to be aliens,” says Jessica Goldberg, showrunner for Netflix’s deep-space drama Away, in which a five-person crew blast off from the moon to Mars. “For us,” she continues, “it was very important that everything was based on what happens on a real mission to Mars.”

Starring Hilary Swank as American astronaut Emma Green, the commander of the ambitious Atlas mission, Away isn’t exclusively set in the claustrophobic confines of the Mars-bound spacecraft. Those left behind on Earth – such as Emma’s NASA engineer husband (Josh Charles) and teenage daughter (Talitha Eliana Bateman) – are just as crucial here, as the show examines the emotional wrench of journeying through space, far from family.

The ship is crewed by an international line-up, with Green’s fellow astronauts hailing from Russia (Mark Ivanir’s Misha), China (Vivian Wu’s Yu), Britain (Ato Essandoh’s Kwesi) and India (Ray Panthaki’s Ram). “When you put this diverse group of people together – where there’s so much political baggage, so to speak, between the countries involved – you put your earthly politics aside,” says Panthaki (Gangs Of London). “You’re doing something for the greater good of humankind.”