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Chris O’Dowd helps us unlock our potential in new Apple TV Plus series

Chris O'Dowd's latest outing looks like it will have us all questioning 'what if' as a machine starts handing out people's life potentials.

A machine card reading 'your life potential'
Image via Apple TV Plus

What do you think your potential is, not what you are doing right now, but what you could become? That’s what the latest Apple TV Plus series, The Big Door Prize, starring Chris O’Dowd, investigates as a small town undergoes a huge transformation after an odd machine shows up out of nowhere to tell its citizens exactly what their potential is.

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We all have ideas of what we could accomplish, but a very small percentage of people ever travel down that windy and uncertain road to find out. The Big Door Prize‘s recently released trailer sees the citizens of Dusty’s (O’Dowd) town receive a card from a mystical machine ‘Morpho’ that tells them exactly what they have the potential to become, allowing them to release their fears and tackle their goals head-on, even if some of their methods are a little unorthodox.

The arrival of the machine causes Dusty to question whether he is truly happy in the life he leads, or whether there is more out there for him, a question that we suppose most people struggle with at various stages in their lives. Further along in the trailer, Dusty brings up the very good point that whilst everyone is enjoying what the machine has done for them, no one is asking where it’s from or what its purpose is, leading viewers to wonder if there is something a little more malevolent at the core of all this.

The series is based on the book of the same name by author M.O. Walsh and was greenlit back in 2021 for a ten-episode season with David West Read (Schitt’s Creek) directing. O’Dowd stars as the lead within a terrific ensemble cast that includes Gabrielle Dennis, Damon Gupton, Josh Segarra, Christian Adam, Sammy Fourlas, Djouliet Amara, Ally Maki, Crystal R. Fox, and Jim Meskimen.

The Big Door Prize will premiere on Apple TV Plus on March 29.