We have, so far, not known all that much about Donald Glover’s upcoming comedy series for FX. We knew that Glover developed and wrote the pilot for Atlanta, which was directed by Japanese music video director Hiro Murai. We knew it’s about an aspiring rapper named named Earn Marks, who’s working his way up in the Atlanta hip-hop scene alongside his cousin (Brian Tyree Henry, Vice Principals) and his cousin’s “musical collaborator” (Lakeith Lee Stanfield, Dope). And we knew that Glover is very talented, so whatever he comes up with will probably be worth checking out.
Now, with this new teaser trailer for the first season, we continue to not know all that much. Though, based upon this 30-second spot, we can make a strong inference that the show will be stylistically on point. Drawing from the long filmmaking tradition of dudes walking down the street looking cool, what we have here is a single shot of the people of Atlanta going about their lives backwards, while the show’s leads try to look as normal as possible while moving single-mindedly forward. Is this thematic? Are we to assume that these guys feel separated from the people around them? Or is it just an attempt to make a visual splash? Who knows? But it’s a promising introduction.
Atlanta will debut on FX in September.