Facebook Watch’s Sorry For Your Loss, created by playwright Kit Steinkellner, follows the newly widowed Leigh Shaw (Elizabeth Olsen) as she deals with the messy, innumerable, and never clear-cut stages of grief following the death of her husband, Matt (Mamoudou Athie). A new trailer for the series shows Leigh being comforted by her empathetic mother Amy, played by Janet McTeer, and getting close to her former brother-in-law, Danny, played by Jovan Adepo.
Kelly Marie Tran also appears as Leigh’s supportive sister Jules, Tran’s first major performance since her breakout role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, for which she has received sustained and targeted harassment from the worst segments of the Star Wars fandom. Sorry For Your Loss, one can only assume, will have a smaller, but healthier, fan base. Tran, for her part, has promised that despite the abuse, she is “just getting started.”
“You can’t put a dollar amount on death,” says Olsen in the opening moments of the trailer, to what appears to be a support group. But you can put a dollar amount on Facebook Watch: The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Facebook was willing to spend up to $1 billion on original programming through 2018, and the company is supposedly spending up to $1 million per episode on “hero” shows like this. Sorry For Your Loss is the second attempt at an original comedy-drama from Facebook Watch, following the much less star-studded but critically well-received Strangers.
Sorry for Your Loss’ trailer may pull gently at the heart strings, but the real tear-jerker is the comments section on Facebook: Women are commenting on the trailer, sharing their own experiences with grieving the losses of husbands and sons. “I lost my husband of 68 wonderful years, 2016,” writes one. “My other half is gone! I really feel like a half a person now. I miss him so much! Having good memories are the worst. They make me cry. It’s rough to live without love. I’m mostly sad all the time.” So far, the Sorry For Your Loss account is replying to every single comment.
The 10-episode series premieres September 18 on that social media platform you’re maybe still trying to leave.
(via Slate)
