Lessons in Chemistry: 5 Things to Know About Apple TV+’s Adaptation Starring Brie Larson
Do you have an appetite for feminism, chemistry and… oysters? Lessons in Chemistry’s Elizabeth Zott can fill you up with all three!
The Apple TV+ series, based on the eponymous 2022 novel by Bonnie Garmus, debuts its first two episodes on Friday, Oct. 13. The show takes place in the early 1950s and follows Elizabeth (played by Captain Marvel’s Brie Larson) as her dream of becoming a scientist gets sidelined by sexism. After she’s fired from her job as a chemistry lab tech, she accepts a job hosting a TV cooking show, Supper at Six. But for Elizabeth, cooking isn’t fun, it’s vital work. It’s science! So she uses her platform to teach a nation of dismissed housewives how to be independent thinkers and pursue their dreams despite facing countless barriers.
“The show is very much about a woman pushing up against a patriarchal society and misogyny in the workplace,” showrunner and co-executive producer Lee Eisenberg tells TVLine.
Through the lens of social justice, the series cooks up romance, science and delicious meals. It’s multi-layered and complex: You might find a lengthy conversation of abiogenesis — a theory in the evolution of early life on earth — served alongside a perfectly layered lasagna. To satiate your curiosity ahead of the premiere, we’re outlining a few key things to know about the series.
THE CAST | In addition to Larson, the main cast includes Aja Naomi King (How to Get Away With Murder), Stephanie Koenig (The Flight Attendant), Patrick Walker (Gaslit), Rainn Wilson (The Office), Lewis Pullman (Outer Range) and Kevin Sussman (The Big Bang Theory).
A NEW PERSPECTIVE | Expect to see more of Harriet Sloane (King) in the TV series than in the novel. Eisenberg says her character expansion was unexpected and inspired by King’s own star power. “We were thinking about [King] for a different role and we couldn’t stop talking about her and we hadn’t yet found our Harriet,” he tells TVLine. So he pitched Harriet as “a young Black woman who’s a lawyer” rather than the character in the book, who Eisenberg describes as “a white woman in her 50s in this abusive marriage.”
THE NORTH STAR | But amping up Harriet’s story doesn’t alter the integrity of the story readers have fallen in love with, according to Eisenberg. While Lessons in Chemistry makes “extrapolations,” “the source material was such a North Star for us,” he says. “We all were obsessed with it and really treated it as a bible in the writers’ room and were constantly referring to it whenever we could.” Eisenberg tells viewers to expect an adaptation that is true to the tone of the book, but not a “word-for-word recitation of what they just read.”
WHAT’S COOKING? | In her on-screen cooking show Supper at Six, Elizabeth serves elaborate meals from whole roast chickens to flaming desserts. And spoiler alert: The meals are not props! The only difference between on-screen dishes and real-life food? “You’ve got to make a whole lot more of it,” food stylist consultant and professional chef Courtney McBroom tells TVLine. “You’re not just making one lasagna, you’re making 15 lasagnas because there might be 15 takes where you need a whole lasagna that’s being cut into.” But all the food is edible and “delicious as it could possibly be,” she says.
SECRETS FROM THE KITCHEN | Aside from one major dessert scene inspired by Julia Child, McBroom did most of Elizabeth’s on-screen cooking. But you don’t have to be a Hollywood chef to prepare the stunning Supper at Six meals. All of the series recipes along with how-to videos will eventually become available on the Lessons in Chemistry recipe website. You can currently access instructions for cooking up Elizabeth’s soon-to-be iconic lasagna — perfect for serving at your premiere watch party.
Are you planning to watch Lessons in Chemistry? Let us know in the comments!
