While Garth Risk Hallberg’s novel takes place in the 1970s, Apple+ has pushed City On Fire into 2003 to explore a young woman’s murder and the increasingly-complex entanglements that might have led to it.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“In City on Fire, an NYU student is shot in Central Park on the Fourth of July, 2003. Samantha is alone; there are no witnesses and very little physical evidence. Her friends’ band is playing at her favorite downtown club but she leaves to meet someone, promising to return. She never does. As the crime against Samantha is investigated, she’s revealed to be the crucial connection between a series of mysterious citywide fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy uptown real estate family fraying under the strain of the many secrets they keep. Chase Sui Wonders stars as Samantha, and Wyatt Oleff plays Charlie, a friend of Samantha’s who is struggling to cope with the death of his father on 9/11 two years earlier. After Samantha is shot, he stops at nothing to unravel the mystery of what happened.”
With Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz (Runaways) showrunning, the trailer has a sleek look to it, offering a view mostly of the Big Apple by night. It also looks absolutely crammed with plot, from Samantha’s backstory to the music crew to the cops to the fires to the elites. It’s a lot of ground to cover in only 8 episodes, and maybe that density will be the reason it’s bingeable.
Apple+ is dropping the first 3 episodes on May 12th with the rest coming once a week into June. Prepare your calendars accordingly.