Danielle Brooks, Asante Blackk, Guillermo Diaz headline Netflix quarantine anthology ‘Social Distance’

You didn’t think you weren’t getting some prime quarantine content, did you? With film and television productions halted for the last six months, networks and streamers are advantage of being able to write, shoot and produce extremely topical content and getting it to viewers as quickly as possible. HBO has Coastal Elites coming up and Netflix has the anthology Social Distance coming this fall.

Set in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Social Distance is an eight-part anthology series that showcases the power of the human spirit in the face of uncertainty and isolation. Each standalone episode is told through a virtual lens and captures the unique emotional experience of being forced apart by circumstance and having no choice but to communicate remotely and rely on technology to maintain any sense of connection. Through these varied and deeply human stories, Social Distance aims to provide some much-needed catharsis during a tumultuous time while also capturing a snapshot of this singular moment in history.

Conceived, cast and executed entirely remotely during quarantine, Social Distance is created and executive-produced by showrunner Hilary Weisman Graham and executive-produced by Tara Herrmann, Blake McCormick and Jenji Kohan. Diego Velasco serves as co-executive producer.

“Many of these stories required casting actors who were quarantined with other actors. That hurdle seriously hindered our options and so casting non-actors was sometimes essential. It was definitely a roll of the dice, but thankfully, we were thrilled to discover that talent really does breed talent. These family members may not have had aspirations to be in front of the camera when we first started, but they should all quit their day jobs immediately,” said Weisman Graham.

Social Distance premieres globally on Netflix this fall. Here is the cast for the show.

• Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black) with real-life mother LaRita Brooks and brother DJ Brooks; Marsha Stephanie Blake (When They See Us) with real-life daughter Rocco Luna; Misha Brooks; Isabella Ferreira (Love, Victor)

• Oscar Nunez (The Office); Daphne Rubin-Vega (In the Heights) with real-life husband Tom Costanzo and son Luca Costanzo; Guillermo Diaz (Scandal); Miguel Sandoval (Station 19); Camila Perez (Gotham); Olli Haaskivi (Manifest); Giana Aragon

• Mike Colter (Evil); Okieriete Onaodowan (Hamilton); real-life spouses Heather Burns (Bored to Death) and Ajay Naidu (Blindspot); Shakira Barrera (GLOW); Steven Weber (13 Reasons Why) with real-life son Jack Hohnen-Weber; Helena Howard (Don’t Look Back)

• Asante Blackk (When They See Us) with real-life father Ayize Ma’at; Lovie Simone (The Craft)

• Max Jenkins (Dead to Me); Brian Jordan Alvarez (Will & Grace); Peter Vack (Love Life); Rana Roy (Life Sentence)

• Peter Scanavino (Law & Order: SVU) with real-life son Leo Bai-Scanavino; Ali Ahn (The Path); Tami Sagher (Orange Is the New Black); Barbara Rosenblat (Orange Is the New Black); Michael Mulheren (Rescue Me)

• Real-life spouses Becky Ann Baker (Girls) and Dylan Baker (The Good Wife); Sunita Mani (GLOW); real-life spouses Raymond Anthony Thomas (The Hoop Life) and Marcia Debonis (Orange Is the New Black)

• Kylie Liya Page; Lachlan Watson (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina); David Iacono (Grand Army); Will Meyers (The Village); Niles Fitch (This Is Us); Ava Demary (FBI)