Time travel is a fairly reliable staple of genre tv shows, so as soon as one vanishes from continuity, you can be sure another one will rise to take its place. Those still lamenting the likes of Timeless and cautiously celebrating the revival of Quantum Leap may be interested in a new series coming from the UK’s Sky Max and NOW and due to arrive in April.
The Lazarus Project (not to be confused with the 2008 Paul Walker thriller of the same name) probably bears the closest resemblance to the slightly lesser known 7 Days ( Christopher Crowe’s series starring Jonathan LaPaglia – which ran from 1998-2001 and concerned a secret governmental unit that had the ability to travel back one week, thus undoing or limiting catastrophes or man-made events before they happened.
In The Lazarus Project – penned by Joe Barton, the acclaimed writer of Giri/Haji – there’s also a secret agency and also the ability to go back in time and alter events, though the eight-part series takes a somewhat different angle on the concept.
I May Destroy You and Gangs of London‘s Paapa Essiedu plays George, a man who wakes up one morning and is shocked to find out he’s reliving an event that happened months before. This isn’t a Groundhog Day-like do-over, though… there’s plenty of things that his backtracking has apparently eliminated including his success at work and his wedding day. Nobody seems to be aware of the displacement, so is he simply going insane?
A different explanation, though one bizarre in its own right, comes in the form of Archie (Anjli Mohindra, best known for two other UK hits Vigil and Bodyguard) who recruits George for the secret organisation calling itself the ‘Lazarus Project’ – one given the remit to stop global extinction events and disasters by travelling back in time. The team have the ability to remember events before they are altered but there are strict rules for their missions – nothing can be altered unless it directly impacts the designated disaster-prevention. So when George experiences a sudden loss that strikes close to home, he isn’t simply allowed to reverse it. But can George resist putting things ‘right’ when the ability to do so is right in front of him?
