SUPACELL unfolds in South, aka South London, with a group of seemingly ordinary individuals who develop extraordinary abilities. Michael (Tosin Cole), a van driver/courier who just got engaged, grows increasingly more desperate when he and four others—Sabrina (Nadine Mills), a nurse with sister issues; Rodney (Calvin Demba), a down-on-his-luck dealer; Andre (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), a formerly incarcerated man striving to be a good father; and Tazer (Josh Tedeku), the leader of a subset of a gang—suddenly discover a barrage of superpowers.
SUPACELL
Crafted by Rapman, a British rapper, producer, and filmmaker, the upcoming Netflix series will feel somewhat familiar to fans of another superpowered drama, Heroes. SUPACELL has a similar structure of unwittingly interconnected people who are suddenly confronted by the extraordinary. However, here, the story pivots from the now iconic “save the cheerleader, save the world” to a more personal “save the fiancée, save the world” theme. With its first four episodes firmly planted in a category I’ll call ‘road drama’ (a twist on the Black British slang for the streets as a subcategory of crime drama), the series is grounded in a familiar world for those who watched the recent Boarders series—even sharing a star in Josh Tedeku. However, with its concealed depths and institutional conspiracies reminiscent of They Cloned Tyrone, SUPACELL hints there’s more beneath the surface waiting to be uncovered.
The title is a clever play on words, evoking either “sleeper cell” or “sickle cell” perhaps both. Either could allude to the inherent pain within the characters’ transformations and the covert nature of their burgeoning abilities. SUPACELL definitely hits ‘different’ from most superhero sagas—in its exploration of the crime hidden beneath the streets of South London, and the very human characters struggling against it. The resulting meta-human mystery beckons us to dig deeper.
That said, despite my appreciation for its premise and the potential to tell a wide range of sci-fi-infused storylines centered on Black Londoners, for me, the series remains too anchored in its crime drama roots throughout the initial four episodes. My hope for a shift toward more balanced or perhaps less typical themes lingers. There’s a chance, especially with Tosin Cole’s Michael as the hub character, who is sincere and brave despite his fears. The big hearts of Mills’ Sabrina and Kofi-Abrefa’s Andre give an additional boost. All three have the potential to be heroic and to pull Tedeku’s Tazer out of the shadows of his trauma.
SUPACELL has strength. The cast is top-tier, delivering on the intensity, fear, and confusion the scripts layout so well; while the developing conspiracies are a strong hook. The series will likely resonate with its audiences, but if you’re asking me: I appreciated more than I liked what I’ve seen so far.
