Solos, a new seven-part anthology series from Amazon Studios, delves into what it means to be human in even the most extreme situations. Premiering on May 21 and starring Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Helen Mirren, Constance Wu, Uzo Aduba and Nicole Beharie, this character-driven series focuses on one character per each episode. “You’re just going to see a snapshot of a person’s life in a moment of extreme isolation,” says Beharie. Beharie adds that the show’s creator and writer David Weil explained to the cast that Solos would be about isolation and mimics what the world has been experiencing over the past 18 months. “I think it was to give us a little bit of a respite by connecting with other people who are going through what we’re all going through globally,” she says.
Beharie’s episode is centered around her character, Neera, a pregnant woman alone in a cabin far away from civilization who ends up giving birth. “I wonder what that experience would be like and the resilience that you would find because you would have to find it. And I think that speaks to what we’ve all found for ourselves. We’re all sort of like, ‘wow, a pandemic is happening and happened and it’s going on and I’m still here,’” she says of preparing for her episode. Beharie, who has called Georgia home for the last few years, adds that she surprised herself while filming Solos during the pandemic. “I’m a little bit of a hypochondriac and super cautious. I’m not one of those throw caution to the wind type of people. So it was interesting that I was flying out to Los Angeles to shoot.”
“I do think it’s important to educate and to have conversations about the world that we’re in.”
The extreme isolation shown on-screen was somewhat reflected in the filming of Solos, given today’s climate. “It definitely isn’t your normal acting job where you get to bounce off of other people and characters,” she says. “My episode was shot in two and a half days, so it was pretty intense.” While each episode is centered around one character, there are so many layers and interpretations to different moments which also mirrors real life.
Nicole Beharie, Photography by JD Barnes
From her starring role as a single mother in the 2020 film Miss Juneteenth to Solos, the 36-year-old actress has been drawn to more dramatic roles lately, but admits she is eager to act in romance and comedy projects. “I definitely think we need levity right now with everything that’s going on. For me, I don’t want to traumatize people with work but I do think it’s important to educate and to have conversations about the world that we’re in.”
Nicole Beharie, Photography by JD Barnes
After her experience working on Solos and portraying such a fierce woman, Beharie has grown a lot personally. “I like that I’m becoming more resilient. There are things that my character went through that I probably would have wanted to crawl up in my bed and just be like, ‘wake me up when it’s over,’” she says. “But if I am waiting to wake up when it’s over, I’m going to be asleep for a very long time. So let’s figure out how to live as fully and safely as possible now.”
All seven episodes of Solos will be available on Amazon Prime Video on May 21.
