The DEBRIS Team Teases NBC’s New Mysterious Sci-Fi Drama

In the new NBC drama DEBRIS, the wreckage of a mysterious spaceship is scattered around the world—and causing inexplicable events.

At the show’s center are Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker) and Finola Jones (Riann Steele), whose partnership links their international agencies—he’s with the CIA while she’s with MI6—as they attempt to find the various ship pieces, and contain the mayhem caused by its powers.

“You’re meeting two characters who are very flawed and are very broken,” Steele told reporters at the show’s TCA panel. “And we get to also see, along the season, them kind of understand each other through the debris.“

DEBRIS creator J.H. Wyman is no stranger to the world of unusual: in addition to co-running/running the final four seasons of FRINGE, he also ran the short-lived/underrated ALMOST HUMAN.

While many genre shows end up on streaming or cable platforms, NBC was the right home for DEBRIS. “When we went in there, literally they said, ‘Hey, we’re looking for things that break boundaries. We’re looking for things that are artist‑driven and really sort of allow your vision to come through,’” Wyman said. “Which is something that was, obviously, great to hear, but I think now is encouraged. I think sci‑fi has really come into the more mainstream as far as it’s no longer alternative. It’s no longer something that’s very strange, for a certain crowd.”

And much like his previous shows, there will be an overarching mystery, while the episodes also contain their own case of the week element.

“I think the biggest lesson I learned is you’ll have a week‑to‑week show that people can come back to, but for the real hard‑core fans, they understand getting answers, and they understand that there’s a plan,” Wyman said. “And there’s a feeling like there’s this unseen narrator sort of pushing you silently down this road that’s going to amount to something, and something big.”

Added Tucker: “One of the unique parts about the show is that, week-to-week, a new piece of debris is discovered. And it allows us, as partners and the audience, to discover the capabilities, the unique capabilities, that this debris has to offer, how it affects people, how it affects the world, and ultimately how it affects ourselves and our own relationship and the people who discover it…And it’s fun for us as actors, for sure, but I think it will be fun for audiences to see and speaks to the kind of cable‑level sci‑fi that we’ve become accustomed to, that you can have a bit of both. You can have a case of the week, but you can also have meaningful character development and mythological roll‑out over the course of at least this first season.”

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DEBRIS, Series Premiere, Monday, March 1, 10/9c, NBC

RELATED:

• NBC Sets Premiere Date for New Sci-Fi Drama DEBRIS
• DEBRIS on NBC – First Look

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