It was only a matter of before a studio announced a film, show, or award-winning documentary about the novel coronavirus. However, no one expected one to arrive so soon. I suppose it has to start somewhere. Netflix’s Social Distance is a new anthology series about COVID-19, and it is as good of a start as any.

In episode 11 of the GETL Podcast, Hans talks about how the creators and actors of Parks and Recreation are set to release a new ‘special episode’ taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now Netflix has revealed they are currently working on a full-fledged series based in and around the pandemics quarantine scenarios. Appropriately titled Social Distance, the anthology will focus on the “new, bizarre, bewildering reality we are all experiencing”. This is effectively the first full-fledged and big-budget show about the coronavirus pandemic, and we doubt it will stop there!

According to Variety, Neflix’s Social Distance is spearheaded by the Orange Is the New Black team. It will tell the story of the “current moment we are living through” and show “unique, personal, and deeply human stories that illustrate how we are living apart, together”. This is honestly a great idea. Instead of focusing on the virus itself, we should be focusing on one another and how we can all come together, without actually coming face-to-face.

As for why they decided on making it an anthology, Netflix states a pretty obvious reason: “the experience of social distancing is currently universal, but no individual story is the same”. Effectively, the creators want to showcase both extraordinary and mundane tales of social distancing and how people come together while being apart, all in order to prove the point that humanity can triumph over anything.

Orange Is the New Black was an incredible show. It perfectly brought to light what being incarcerated in a women’s prison is like, while also bringing comedic and sometimes very serious elements into the mix. I will admit that I did not like the extremely serious bits in later seasons. As such, I hope Netflix’s Social Distance will focus more on comedic and soppy elements than action-oriented tales of backstabbing and revenge. As of the time of this writing, there is no known release date, episode numbers, or starring roles. I guess we all have to wait and see – it is not like we are going anywhere anytime soon.

Sources: Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, Variety

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Junior Editor at Vamers. From Superman to Ironman; Bill Rizer to Sam Fisher and everything in-between, Edward loves it all. He is a Bachelor of Arts student and English Major specialising in Language and Literature. He is an avid writer and casual social networker with a flare for all things tech related.