The World After Us: Exploring the Apocalyptic Thriller’s Connection to Friends

2023-12-12 18:14:54

Netflix’s new apocalyptic thriller offered plenty of juicy details to fans, who had fun dissecting the film. And where some viewers saw an inconsistency in the series’ use Friendsthe director offered another point of view.

Adapted from the novel by Rumaan Alam, best seller of 2020, The World After Us quickly rose to the top of the Netflix charts. It must be said that this drama with its apocalypse flavor and sometimes strange images has many arguments to convince viewers: and first comes its star-studded cast. Between Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali and Myha’la Herrold, the performances might only be successful.

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Especially since the scenes were played in front of the camera of Sam Esmail, already creator of another series well known to the public and acclaimed: Mr Robot. So when the director and screenwriter decides to reinforce the intrigue of the cyberattack in the middle of an end of world coming to disrupt the vacations of the average American, the spectators say they are won over.

But this time, the last detail noted by the spectators was the subject of much debate. Indeed, Rose, the little one of the Sandford family, is a true adorer of the series Friends… in which Julia Roberts plays, the interpreter of Amanda Sandford in The World After Us. Inconsistency or brilliant wink? For the director, it goes further than that.

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The spectators of the World following us spot a big inconsistency with the series Friends

In The World After UsRose Sandford (Farrah Mackenzie), the daughter of Amanda (Julia Roberts) and Clay (Ethan Hawke), is a big fan of Friends. We are clearly not going to throw stones at him, but this choice seems to present a major problem in the eyes of many spectators. Indeed, Julia Roberts makes an appearance in the sitcom, in the guise of Susie Moss.

Why didn’t Rose notice the carbon copy of her mother in the series? Many members of the Netflix audience have asked themselves the same question, seeing it as a story problem.

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The little girl who watches Friends on her tablet won’t believe it when Julia Roberts appears.”

Plot twist in The World After Us… the girl watches the episode of Friends with Julia Roberts” joked a user on Twitteranother adding in a more perplexed tone: “The Friends-obsessed girl in The World After Us had absolutely nothing to say regarding her mother being in an episode. Not. A word.

In the books, the teenager is far from being as attracted to the famous series. The bunker scene in the novel does depict her as inserting a DVD into the player, but she is not fascinated by the story. What comforts her is simply the sound of the television, which remains in the background.

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But then, how might the adaptation miss this detail, making a blatant error? Maybe, quite simply, because it wasn’t a mistake.

The director of World following us explains the connection between the film and the series Friends

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Make Rose a fanatic Friends, it was actually an adaptation choice. And for the director, what spectators consider to be a mistake shouldn’t even be a problem.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporterthe filmmaker explained: “The universe I create for these films is slightly different from our reality. It must be, obviously. They are played by actors who are in our world. So my meta and convoluted explanation is that when Rose watches Friends and sees Julia in it, she notices a resemblance to her mother, but obviously she ignores it because she’s not her mother.”

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Sam Esmail later explained more regarding Rose’s obsession with the sitcom, as the world around her fell apart. At the microphone of Tumthe Netflix news site, he presented it in his own way: “For me, it represented pure escapism. In moments of crisis when we have lost sight of our common humanity, where we feel isolated, we want to flee to comfort. And for Rose, I thought her journey would only be complete following watching the latest episode of her favorite series.

Exactly, The World After Us ends with the little Sandford family looking at the screen with a big smile. And for those who feel confused by such an abrupt ending, we offer you our full interpretation here.

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