Revealing what’s real and what’s not: Reverie is now streaming

Update: Reverie has unfortunately expired. Browse the full Showmax catalogue here to find similar series.

In the sci-fi series Reverie (2018-current, which can be streamed first and only on Showmax), a virtual reality world becomes so addictive that former hostage negotiator Mara Kint (Sarah Shahi, from the thriller series Sleeper Cell, also on Showmax) is called in to bring out clients who’ve become trapped inside the program, leaving their bodies in a comatose state. But since the Reverie program – created by a tech genius named Alexis Barrett (Jessica Lu) with a version 2.0 developed by “dream world architect” Paul Hammond (Sendhil Ramamurthy) – is capable of creating anyone’s deepest desires and most treasured memories, it’s going to be a tough job… and one that Mara could easily become lost in herself.

A world so wonderful we’d never want to wake up? Even as TV addicts, that’s a pretty big dream to sell us for series creator Mickey Fisher (who also gave us Extant). But just look at what Reverie can do…

The rules don’t apply here

The world inside Reverie, “a place where the impossible becomes possible” can be a lot more complex, creative and colourful that the physical world. “Some of the reveries are dark and twisted, others are more suspenseful and some are happy and like paradise. Every time she’s in one of these things, it’s like falling down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. With every episode, she doesn’t know where she’s gonna end up,” says Sarah. In Reverie, you can fly and breathe underwater, just like you can in a dream, and it’s awesome!

Change your appearance

Reverie can give you the body that you’ve always wanted, down to the smallest detail, and allow you to wear whatever you like in a perfect fit without money or pain becoming an issue.

Go anywhere

In Reverie, you can travel anywhere around the world or restructure the world so that your favourite places are jumbled together around you or even build the world according to your imagination. No 17-hour airline flights, no surrendering your liquids to security, no dubious airline omelettes.

Do anything

Aside from being able to fly, Reverie allows people to live in a world where they can walk, dance, run, see or hear again and even regain lost limbs. And for the sick, it offers relief from pain and a chance to experience a strong, healthy body again.

Taste success

Reverie can let you live out your ultimate dreams, from dazzling careers in the arts to sports victories, to acts of heroism as a secret agent or political or business success. Reverie lets people live out a fantasy where they can be on top of the world. Oh, and you can have your own personal orchestra follow you around playing heroic music while you do that. Because why not.

Relive love or find it

Reverie can use your memories to bring the people you have loved back from death – or even allow you to explore your dreams of love with somebody new who’s perfect for you, creating the perfect romantic scenario where rose petals rain from the sky as you experience la vie en rose.

Heal through escapism

Some of these dreams seem simple but the effects can be complex. Sarah reveals that she and her mom spent a lot of time in women’s shelters when she was growing up because her dad was an abusive drug addict. But like Reverie, TV helped to ease some of that pain through escapism. “There were certain shows that the shelter would have on that I would watch and would take me out of my reality, would make my heart pretty light,” she explains.

Process difficult realities

Sarah’s father died just before she landed her role on Reverie, so one way that the show’s technology can be used really struck a note with her. “I was pretty grief stricken. We didn’t really have much of a relationship and I was surprised by how much my sadness overtook me. I also started seeing him and started talking to him. I started having a relationship with him and healed my relationship with him through his death,” she says. “The show is about those human emotions of loss, betrayal, death, love, hurt, anger, resentment. All of those things that we as normal human beings, we experience.”

Understand ourselves – and others

“We find out the backstory of each of our main characters, really, through their reveries,” says Sendhil. “He suffers from panic attacks, he’s suffered from depression and for him, Reverie was a way to maybe delve into some of that and explore why it is that he suffers from some of these things. I bring Mara in with me to my Reverie and show her, ‘Hey, this is what I hope this program can be for people. This is what it helps me to do.’”

Dark Reverie

In the wrong hands though, Reverie can be a tool for terror in every sense as your darkest fears can be awakened and used to torture you until you surrender information to your sinister dream visitors. So maybe step back before plugging in!

Start watching now »