Image: Netflix/YouTube
Last night, Netflix released the trailer for its new show The OA, and it looks mysterious. It's described by Netflix as a "mind-bending tale about identity, human connection and the borders between life and death."The main character Prairie Johnson, played by actress and writer Brit Marling, is a twenty-something woman who had gone missing for seven years. She grew up blind, and the details of why she disappeared are hazy. In the trailer, she's returned home and reunites with her family: Prairie places her hand upon her mother's face and asks, "Mom?" It also turns out, however, that she's regained her eyesight.While the trailer doesn't do much to help the audience put together the pieces of The OA's plotline, Netflix has added some clues on Instagram. Each picture alone doesn't say much, but together individual groupings of a dozen photos lend themselves to a larger picture. It seems as if Prairie's character may have been possessed, or otherwise engaged with the supernatural. Though she refuses to tell the FBI or her parents what happened, Prairie does share details with a few high schoolers and an algebra teacher. It might be that she tells them her story because she also needs them for a larger endeavor.In a weird move, Netflix released the series trailer just four days before its premiere. The team of filmmakers, including Marling and Zal Batmanglij, film director and screenwriter, worked together prior on on The East, a thriller about underground activists and ecologists. Given what few details we know about the OA so far, it should make for intriguing viewing when all eight episodes of the season premiere on Friday, December 16.Get six of our favorite Motherboard stories every day by signing up for our newsletter.