Netflix’s Eric trailer breakdown: 3 key takeaways from Benedict Cumberbatch miniseries

Eric, Netflix’s upcoming limited six-part emotional crime drama, had its first teaser unveiled earlier today, and it promises to be a chaotic ride as is usual for director Lucy Forbes and creator Abigal Morgan.

The six-part limited series will be released on Netflix on May 30, 2024, and will see Emmy Award-winning Benedict Cumberbatch take on the role of a British actor-turned-children’s television puppeteer. He becomes consumed by guilt after his son disappears, all the while being obsessed with the nine-year-old's imaginary creation.

Sesame street? Five nights at Freddy's? It's too early to say (Image via Netflix)

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The promising series boasts a star-studded cast, apart from Cumberbatch himself. Gaby Hoffmann, McKinley Belcher III, Dan Fogler, and Clarke Peters are all set to appear in the limited series.

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Netflix’s Eric trailer breakdown

1) Teaser’s song choice offers a lot more than meets the eye

Netflix dropped Eric’s first teaser on May 2, 2024. The 2-minute 30-second promo offers a funky and catchy start, fans of the popular music group ABBA may recognize the iconic track right away. The song is SOS and is from their self-titled third album ABBA, released in 1975.

SOS is a unique pop song for its time. While the song takes a backseat as the trailer progresses, the lyrics are heard prominently towards the end. The song choice foreshadows a longing, loss, and almost insanity in the characters we see, as it opens with a classical keyboard and an emotional solo and ends with a bittersweet melody.

The track is about a cry to a lover who seems to ignore them and no longer them, hence the term “SOS”, often used as a signal and cry for help. (Image via ABBA/Youtube)

In the thriller, set in 1980s New York City, Benedict Cumberbatch, previously known as the Soccer Supreme in the MCU, now plays Vincent, a leading puppeteer and creator of the popular children’s television show Good Day Sunshine.

When Vincent’s son Edgar disappears, he becomes wracked with guilt and enters a downward spiral. Obsessed with Edgar’s drawings of a blue monster puppet named Eric, Vincent becomes convinced that the only way for his son to come home is by getting the puppet on TV.

The themes of the song become an analogy for the upcoming limited series while the lyrics resonate with Benedict Cumberbatch's character. The cry for help is heard from the father and maybe also the son.

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2) Creative team behind Eric seems to be on brand with the show

The limited six-part drama originates from the mind of Emmy Award winner Abi Morgan. Morgan has already worked on several award-winning shows for the big and small screens and the stage.

She is credited for creating The Hour, The Iron Lady, and other works. Lucy Forbes, who has previously directed This Is Going To Hurt and The End of the F***ing World, has directed the series.

These two brilliant individuals are joined by Cumberbatch himself, who also executive produces alongside Jane Featherstone known for the hit HBO series Chernobyl, and Lucy Dyke, producer on Netflix’s Black Mirror. Morgan further elaborates on her story in an interview with Netflix Tudum:

“Eric is a deep dive into the ’80s Big Apple, grappling with rising crime rates, internal corruption, endemic racism, a forgotten underclass, and the AIDS epidemic, exposing the divisions rife between parents searching for their child, a detective battling with a system that is broken, and a lost boy who may never come home, and asks where the real monsters lie. With puppets … lots of puppets.”

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3 ) Eric looks to be Sesame Street if it was made by Alfred Hitchcock

The first teaser for the online series shows Cumberbatch striding around 1980s New York City, as well as the blue monster who becomes the defeated father's obsession. The Netflix series' logline reads:

“Vincent (Cumberbatch) is one of New York’s leading puppeteers and creator of the hugely popular children’s television show Good Day Sunshine. But his life unravels when his 9-year-old son goes missing on the way to school.”

It adds:

"The Official Synopsis of the series reads: "Full of self-loathing and guilt around Edgar’s disappearance, he clings to his son’s drawings of a blue monster puppet, Eric, convinced that if he can get Eric on TV then Edgar will come home.”

Netflix's Eric promises to be an adventure (image via Netflix)

The bereaved father begins to see Eric more and more as his increasingly erratic conduct begins to isolate Vincent from his friends, coworkers, family, and the detectives trying to assist him.

Creator Abi Morgan praises Netflix for embracing her story when she first presented the wacky concept of a New York puppeteer searching for his lost son while accompanied by a seven-foot-tall blue monster. Eric premieres on May 30, only on Netflix.