We watched Upload on Amazon Prime for our Celebitchy Zoom Meetup. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a show set in 2033 in which heaven is digital and the richest people can afford to “upload” themselves to the most expensive places which require unlimited data. Others get stuck in 2 gig prison-like afterlives where they only get a few hours a month. I went into it thinking I would watch just one episode but I binged the whole thing last weekend! I loved it. The chemistry between the two leads, Robbie Amell (Nathan) and Andy Allo (Nora) is so great and helps sell the story.

Deadline has a Zoom call with the show’s creator, Greg Daniels, and all of the lead actors. It was a lot of fun to watch and helped explain why the show is so successful. Everyone really seems to like each other and to get along great. My favorite part was when Robbie Amell, who plays the lead, explained why his character has such great chemistry with Andy Allo’s character. Andy plays Robbie’s “angel,” she’s the living person who works for the digital afterlife company where his avatar lives. She’s like a concierge he can summon when he needs help.

Creator Greg Daniels on the reaction to the show
Greg Daniels: Very positive, definitely a feeling of weird timeliness to it. Someone named Jenny asked about the face masks on the subway. We shot that in January, 2018 when we shot the pilot. It was just the costume designer’s interpretation of what people would be wearing in the future (2033) because the air quality would be bad.

On the inspiration behind the show
I had this idea about 30 years ago as a sketch writer for SNL. I saw an ad for CD players and [thought] about digital vs analog. What would be the ultimate thing that you could digitize? Maybe ourselves. We could live in some sort of virtual world. I had the notion that human beings could program their own heaven. If they could, it would probably exactly like human society which is filled with greed and unfairness and it wouldn’t feel very much like heaven. I thought that was a full metaphor to build a show around. I [worked] on it over the years. It was good that I waited because all the big tech companies were running our lives at that time.

Andy Alllo on how she was able to get into the character Nora
That world is so rich, it’s so layered. As an actor you’re given so much, it’s so rich. I didn’t really have to do much. You really just played. This project [was fun and exciting] to collaborate and imagine. You’re relying on your imagination [for the hand phones] but the world is so rich that you can just play.

Robbie Amell on his chemistry with Andy
I was the very first person to audition for Upload and Andy was the very last. Along the way I read with a lot of different Noras. Andy has such [a] kind heart that I think is so important for Nora that it really shines through her innately and is so important with her character being the beating heart of this story. We got to know each other as our characters did. Nathan and Nora and myself and Andy got to know each other at the same time and build our relationship and work on our personal chemistry at the same time as our character’s chemistry. If you spend any time with her you’re like ‘oh yeah I could have chemistry with her too.’

[From video on Deadline]

That was so sweet how Robbie talked about Andy! Without getting into any spoilers, I also loved Nora’s relationship with her father. Everyone I’ve talked to who has watched this show loved it, including my mom and all of us who watched it for the CB meetup. Thanks LaUnica Angelina for suggesting it!

The good news is that Upload is getting a second season. Here’s a link with spoilers about all the unanswered questions in season one. Creator Greg Daniels talked about it like he was still writing it and we probably won’t see it until 2021 given the state of the world. I’m not likely to forget about this great show before then. (I’ll surely forget plot points, but hopefully they’ll have a good recap.)

photos credit:Katie Yu / Amazon Studios / The Hollywood Archive via Avalon.red