YouTube Premium subscribers can now watch all 10 episodes of the new intergalactic thriller "Origin," and the first two are free for anyone to stream.
The opening scenes of the new show may feel familiar to fans of sci-fi thrillers. Some people have described the show as "Lost" set in space, and the similarities are hard to miss. The show opens on a man waking up from cryosleep on a spacecraft hurtling through the cosmos. As he wanders around the ship, he stumbles into a group of strangers who also recently woke up, confused and disoriented.
At first, viewers don't know how these people got on the ship or where the spacecraft is going, but they soon learn that each person volunteered to be there. All passengers are part of a program to colonize Thea, an Earth-like planet that can sustain human life. Everyone aboard the ship is looking to start a new life on Thea and is promised by the Siren Corporation — the company colonizing the planet — that their histories on Earth will be wiped clean. [The Scariest Aliens of Science Fiction]
But the journey to Thea doesn't go as planned. The strangers finds themselves awake too early aboard a spacecraft (the Origin) with major structural damage and a missing crew. Soon, they discover that one member of the group is not who they seem.
Among the cast are two "Harry Potter" alumni, Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) and Natalia Tena (Nymphadora Tonks), who star as part of the group lost in space. Felton plays Logan, who, from the first two episodes, seems to be all snark and unhelpful suggestions. Tena is Lana, a motherly figure and a U.S. Army Special Forces operative who is running to Thea to escape mistakes she made in her past, we learn via flashbacks.
The flashbacks drive much of the character development in "Origin," with each episode filling in chunks of backstory for the people aboard the ship. The show relies on several tropes common to sci-fi fantasies, such as mysterious missing persons and body-snatching extraterrestrials. Although "Origin" may feel familiar, it's far from boring. Each episode provides plenty of jump scares and unraveling mystery to keep viewers entertained.
"Origin" comes from director Paul W.S. Anderson and, perhaps not surprisingly, the producers of "Lost" and "The Crown." The 10-episode season is available through the $12/month YouTube Premium service. You can find "Origin," including the free first two episodes, online here.
Follow Kasandra Brabaw on Twitter @KassieBrabaw. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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