Extrapolations: First look reveals Meryl Steep as the last whale on Earth in the futuristic series

You read that headline correctly. Meryl Streep plays the last whale on Earth in this new clip from the sci-fi show Extrapolations. The new Apple original series from Scott Z. Burns, known for Contagion and Side Effects, takes place in the future, with its debut episode titled “2046.” The show’s premise is an extensive look at the effects of climate change impacting the planet in a devastating fashion. Entertainment Weekly gives us a first look with a clip from “2046,” where Sienna Miller breaks the news to a humpback whale, voiced by Meryl Streep, that she is the last living whale on Earth.

You can view the clip as an exclusive on Entertainment Weekly’s site here. The episode, in which the clip is taken from, features “an abysmal hereafter where animals, including tigers and orangutans, are extinct. Miller portrays Rebecca, an archivist who studies the extinctions and works to preserve the animals’ memories, while Streep — without giving too much away — is not merely a whale per se, but Rebecca’s late mother, Eve.”

Miller was quick to jump on the project after an email from Burns told her Streep would be playing her mother, but it’s also a topic she is very passionate about. “When you’re dealing with such an enormous crisis of climate and also climate change denial — especially having lived in America throughout the last presidential reign, and having seen the documentaries, many of which Scott was involved with — there’s a lot that can be said from watching documentaries and dealing with hard facts,” Miller expounds.

With all the praise Streep collects from all her performances, Miller joked about how she could even play a humpback. “I said to her, ‘I can’t believe it. Is there nothing you can’t do? You’re a whale now.’ I mean, come on. She’s heaven on earth, as you can imagine.”

The plot of the series is about “eight interwoven stories about love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population. Every story is different, but the fight for our future is universal. And when the fate of humanity is up against a ticking clock, the battle between courage and complacency has never been more urgent. Are we brave enough to become the solution to our own undoing before it’s too late?”