The Trailer for 'Nautilus' Crafts a Blockbuster Origin Story for Captain Nemo
Shazad Latif in "Nautilus"
(Photo: AMC)
The adventure series Nautilus has had a long and torturous path to the screen. The series began its life as a Disney+ project, but it was shelved back in 2023 as part of a series of cost-cutting measures. (Its budget was said to have run into the hundreds of millions by this point.) AMC stepped in and snapped it up a few months later. However, thanks to the complex rights acquisition process in our current entertainment environment, the series was acquired by Prime Video in the U.K., where it aired last Fall. It's only now about to finally premiere in America in June, ostensibly because summer and adventure programming used to go together once upon a time.
(We still miss you, Around the World in 80 Days.)
Inspired by Jules Verne's classic novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the series is essentially an origin story for the novel's mysterious Captain Nemo, a scientific visionary who navigates the sea in his submarine, the Nautilus. Embracing Nemo's Indian heritage, as revealed in the sequel, The Mysterious Island, the drama reimagines him as an Indian prince who has been robbed of his birthright 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, Nemo steals the prototype he's building and sets off on a hunt for treasure and freedom along with a motley crew of fellow prisoners. (Surprise, the sub is the Nautilus, and this show is also the story of how he got his ship.)
Black Mirror's Shazad Latif plays Nemo, and if the series' trailer is anything to go by, he's got some serious brooding adventurer vibes.
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.
Alongside Latif, the series also stars 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).
The ten-part 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.
