AMC Sets June Premiere for Adventure Drama 'Nautilus'

It's a truth universally acknowledged that the entertainment industry is reticent to take risks on unknowns. It's why there are so many shows based on pre-existing properties, spawned from books, video games, films, and even other television series. Often these sequels, prequels, and tangentially adjacent properties put something of a new spin on their efforts by telling familiar stories from a different character's perspective. That's the general idea behind the new AMC+ adventure drama Nautilus. 

Inspired by Jules Verne's classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the series serves as an origin story for its iconic and deliberately mysterious Captain Nemo, the captain of the futuristic submarine known as the Nautilus. Embracing the idea of Nemo's Indian heritage revealed in Verne's sequel The Mysterious Island, he is here reimagined as an Indian prince robbed of his birthright and family and forced to work as an indentured laborer for the East India Mercantile Company. Bent on revenge against those who have taken everything from him, he steals the prototype submarine he's been building (it's the Nautilus, surprise) and sets off on a hunt for treasure and freedom along with a motley crew of fellow prisoners. 

Nautilus technically began life as a Disney+ series, but the project was shelved in 2023 as part of cost-cutting measures. (Its budget reportedly ran into the hundreds of millions.) AMC snapped it up a few months later. But while the drama aired in the U.K. and Ireland last Fall, thanks to Prime Video, it is only just now gearing up to premiere in America. On some level, this makes sense. After all, if an adventure series is ever going to make a splash, it's probably going to be in the summer, isn't it? (We'll just ignore some of the less than flattering U.K. reviews, okay?)

Here's the series synopsis. 

Inspired by Jules Verne’s beloved Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Nautilus follows Nemo’s (Latif) mission to enact revenge on the East India Mercantile Company, who took everything from him. Nemo audaciously steals a prototype submarine from the penal colony in which he is imprisoned, escaping into the ocean with a motley crew of fellow prisoners. He plans to reach the fabled Viking treasure buried at the Pillars of Halvar. But first, he must win the trust of his crew, and keep out of the clutches of the ruthless East India Mercantile Company, who will do whatever it takes to stop him.

Shazad Latif (Black Mirror) stars as Nemo, alongside an ensemble that includes Georgia Flood (Apples Never Fall) as Humility Lucas, Céline Menville (Emily in Paris) as Loti, and Thierry Fremont (Liaison) as Benoit, with guest appearances from Richard E. Grant (Saltburn), Anna Torv (The Last of Us), and Noah Taylor (Foundation).

Developed and produced by Moonriver TV’s Xavier Marchand and Seven Stories’ Anand Tucker, the series is written by James Dorman (Medici: Masters of Florence). Michael Matthews (Love & Monsters) is the lead director helming four of the series' episodes, with Ben C. Lucas (The Wilds) and Isabelle Sieb (The Devil's Hour) splitting the remaining six.  Executive producers include Johanna Devereaux, Chris Loveall, Colleen Woodcock, and Daisy Gilbert. Cameron Welsh serves as producer. 

Nautilus will premiere two episodes on Sunday, June 29, at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+. Additional episodes will premiere weekly on Sundays until the two-episode season finale on Sunday, August 17, 2025.