Apple TV+ announces release dates of Chris Evans' thriller Defending Jacob, Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories

Apple's video streaming service, Apple TV Plus, has announced the premiere dates of its slate of new shows, including Defending Jacob, Amazing Stories, Home, Trying, Dear..., and an animated musical comedy Central Park.

Amazing Stories is a reboot of Steven Spielberg's 1985 anthology series. Its five episodes are scheduled to premiere on 6 March. The original was Spielberg's attempt to create an updated Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are the showrunners, while different episodes will be directed by Mark Mylod, Chris Long, Michael Dinner, Susanna Fogel, and Sylvain White.

A first look still from Amazing Stories. Image from Twitter

Mylod has directed the first episode, 'The Rift', starring Kerry Lynn Bishe, Whitney Coleman, Trisha Mashburn, Austin Stowell, Edward Burns, and Juliana Canfield. Dylan O’Brien, Victoria Pedretti, Josh Holloway, Sasha Alexander, and the late Robert Forster will feature in other episodes, writes Variety.

Chris Evans stars as the lead in Defending Jacob, which will have its first three episodes premiere on 24 April. Directed by The Imitation Game helmer Morten Tyldum, the thriller series is based on the novel of the same name by William Landay. The Avengers: Endgame actor will play Andy Barber, a district attorney who finds his teenage son (Jaeden Martell) is a suspect in the case of a murdered 14-year-old boy he is investigating. This is Evans' first major television role since The Opposite of Sex miniseries in 2000.

Mark Bomback, the scribe of War for the Planet of the Apes, has created and written the eight-episode series. He has also executive produced and served as the showrunner. Evans will also executive produce the show alongside Tyldum. Besides him, Michelle Dockery, Pablo Schreiber, Cherry Jones, and Sakina Jaffrey are part of the cast.

Here is the first look

A nine-episode long docu-series Home, out on 17 April, will take audience on a tour of the world's most innovative homes. Joe Poulin, Matthew Weaver, Bruce Gersh, Ian Orefice, Doug Pray, Collin Orcutt, Matt Tyrnauer, Corey Reeser, and Kim Rozenfeld have executive produced the show.

Here is a still

Apple TV+ will also start carrying its first UK Original, Trying, from 1 May. Backed by BBC Studios, and written by Andy Wolten, the comedy will follow a couple, who only want the one thing they cannot have — a baby. Rafe Spall and Esther Smith will play the lead characters.

Here is the first look

Dear... will debut on 5 June, and will span over 10 episodes, executive produced by RJ Cutler. Inspired by Apple's 'Dear Apple' ads, the show brings biographies of many iconic figures like Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Spike Lee, and Yara Shahidi through letters written by people whose lives they have changed.

Lauren Bouchard of Bob Burgers-fame, alongside Josh Gad and Nora Smith, have created Central Park, which will release this summer. The animated show is about the Tillermans, a family that lives in and is the caretaker of Central Park. The voice cast includes Gad, Leslie Odom Jr, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Tituss Burgess, Daveed Diggs, and Stanley Tucci.

Here is the first look