Netflix’s I-Land Trailer Teases Fyre Festival-Like Sci-Fi Event Series

Netflix has released a teaser trailer for its upcoming sci-fi event series, The I-Land. Given the sheer number of shows and movies the streamer has green-lit recently, one would be forgiven for having missed the announcement about this one in September 2018. Co-created and run by Neil LaBute (who made his name with provocative fare like In the Company of Men and The Shape of Things), The I-Land went into production in the Dominican Republic last year, with a cast led by Kate Bosworth, Natalie Martinez, Alex Pettyfer, Kyle Schmid, and Gilles Geary.

Spanning seven episodes, The I-Land follows a group of ten people who wake up on a remote island with no memory, but gradually come to realize just how dangerous this tropical haven really is. The series’ premise and sci-fi aspect (more on that later) immediately beg comparison to that for Lost, as well as the older cult properties (see also: The Prisoner) that preceded Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams, and Damon Lindelof’s smash-hit show. Its marketing, though, adds a surprising Fyre Festival twist to the formula that may or may not extend to the actual series.

The teaser for The I-Land is now online, and confirms the series begins streaming on Netflix in a few weeks (Thursday, September 12, to be exact). You can check it out in the space below.

For its first half, The I-Land teaser essentially plays out as a shot-for-shot recreation of the promo for Fyre Festival, aka. the infamous fraudulent “luxury music festival” founded by Fyre Media Inc. CEO Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule in 2017. Partway through, however, the video then changes course and reveals the series’ Lost-esque setup, while also teasing the dangers awaiting its characters on the eponymous island and the mysterious, nefarious forces surveying their every move through hidden cameras. It’s a rather familiar sci-fi premise by now, so it remains to be seen if The I-Land can take it somewhere more inventive and intriguing from there.

General interest in Fyre Festival seemed to peak near the beginning of this year, after Netflix and Hulu released their dual documentaries on the scam and how it all came to be. Still, it adds an unexpected twist to The I-Land‘s teaser and leaves one curious to learn if, again, it has any bearing on the series or is simply part of the marketing push. LaBute’s never been one to veer away from exploring the more unpleasant aspects of human behavior in his work, so he may yet use the show’s conceit to raise questions similar to those examined in the Fyre Festival documentaries. Of course, if The I-Land gets too self-serious, it risks becoming another partially-intentional campfest in the vein of LaBute’s The Wicker Man remake.

The I-Land begins streaming Thursday, September 12 on Netflix.

Source: Netflix