Emma Stone is one of the most versatile actors currently working, but her sci-fi series Maniac is overshadowed by her other successes. Emma Stone’s best movies tend to be drastically different from each other as she rarely takes on the same type of project twice despite sometimes playing similar characters. She often plays confident and quirky women, from her career breaks in Easy A and Superbad to her more recent success with Poor Things. Stone has appeared in relatively few sci-fi productions, but while Poor Things received the most attention, she is also excellent in Maniac.
Meanwhile, Netflix’s sci-fi movies and TV shows have been hit-and-miss, with some major successes like Black Mirror and other forgettable creations. The best sci-fi movies on Netflix are older classics and newer movies with experimental genre mixes, with the cyberpunk short story series Love, Death + Robots being a great example. Unfortunately, Netflix does not always treat sci-fi well and has a habit of canceling promising series, leaving cliffhangers like The OA‘s ambiguous ending. That said, Maniac‘s ending is rounded off well, and it is one of Netflix’s best sci-fi shows.
Why Emma Stone’s Maniac Is One Of Netflix’s Best Sci-Fi Shows
Maniac’s Blend Of Genres Make It A Sci-Fi Success
Maniac stars Jonah Hill alongside Stone and is about two strangers who connect while taking part in a pharmaceutical trial. The experiment is designed to heal its 12 participants from various past traumas, including mental illness, by taking them through a series of elaborate hallucinatory worlds. The acting from all the cast members is excellent, with Stone being especially compelling as a guilt-ridden woman with a personality disorder. The visuals are also exciting, yet while sci-fi can risk being more style than substance, Maniac‘s story is moving and the series holds an 85% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Maniac‘s blend of genres is integral to the story, which blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
Maniac‘s blend of genres is integral to the story, which blurs the line between fantasy and reality through hallucinations. The series is a surrealist psychological drama, and its black comedy moments suit Stone’s casting well, as her characters often have a comedic side. This genre-mixing elevates Maniac, which could have been yet another sinister human experiment-themed show in another director’s hands. The weird world of Maniac leaves several questions unanswered, and while it is unlikely that there will be a Maniac 2, it is not impossible as Stone has appeared in sequels before.
Another Great Emma Stone Sci-Fi Is Available On Streaming
Poor Things & Maniac Show That Emma Stone Should Appear In More Sci-Fi
While Stone’s performance in Maniac is stellar, it has been forgotten in the aftermath of Poor Things, — also available to stream via Prime Video — where she plays Bella Baxter, an adult woman with the brain of her unborn child. The movie follows Bella as she grows into her adult body and discovers herself through sex and adventures around the world. Poor Things has some shocking scenes and was extremely controversial, with some reviewers feeling that the idea of Bella having a child’s brain temporarily was inappropriate. That said, the movie won multiple awards and has a 93% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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The sci-fi genre is often dominated by particular female archetypes, from warriors to scientists, which are roles that Stone does not often tend to play. Instead, Stone’s talent for comedic timing and clear love of portraying more complex characters is an asset to the sci-fi genre. Poor Things is thought to be Stone’s best performance yet, with her character exploring dimensions not shown onscreen before. That said, while Annie in Maniac is slightly more conventional than Bella Baxter, Maniac depicts the same character in multiple settings, showcasing Stone’s versatility and potential in sci-fi.
Maniac
- Release Date
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2018 – 2017
- Showrunner
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Patrick Somerville
- Directors
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Cary Joji Fukunaga
- Writers
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Cary Joji Fukunaga, Patrick Somerville, Danielle Henderson