Before is an American psychological thriller television miniseries created by Sarah Thorp, who also serves as showrunner and is an executive producer, along with Billy Crystal, Adam Bernstein, Eric Roth, and Jet Wilkinson. It stars Billy Crystal as a child psychiatrist, and features Judith Light, Rosie Perez, and Jacobi Jupe.
Before premiered on October 25, 2024, on Apple TV+.
Contents
Premise
A recently widowed child psychiatrist named Eli meets with his next patient, Noah, who mysteriously shows up at his house and appears to know things about him. The child appears to have psychotic episodes that result in harm to himself or others, but the psychiatrist senses something in these episodes that appear to point to a "source" which the psychiatrist appears to relate to.
Cast
Main
Billy Crystal as Eli
Jacobi Jupe as Noah
Maria Dizzia as Barbara
Ava Lalezarzadeh as Cleo
Rosie Perez as Denise
Judith Light as Lynn
Recurring
Sakina Jaffrey as Gail
Robert Townsend as Jackson
Miriam Shor as Sue Ann
Rebecca Ruane as Sophie
Hope Davis as Dr. Jane
Guest
Julia Chan as Therapist
Itzhak Perlman as Drake
Delia Cunningham as Shift Nurse
Barbara Bain as Ruth
Will Hochman as Benjamin Walker
Jennifer Esposito as Psychic
Lenny Venito as Lawrence
Stephen Wallem as Charlie
Kineta Kunutu as Doctor
Production
It was announced in June 2022 that Apple TV+ had ordered the series, which Billy Crystal would star in and Barry Levinson would direct. In December 2023, Judith Light joined the cast, with Adam Bernstein now set to direct the pilot episode, as Levinson had to exit the project. In January 2024, Rosie Perez, Jacobi Jupe, Maria Dizzia, Ava Lalezarzadeh would be added to the main cast, with Hope Davis joining in a recurring capacity.
Filming had begun on the series under the name Winston in New Jersey by May 2023. In June, it was announced it had entered an indefinite hiatus amidst the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. Upon the strike's conclusion, the series resumed filming in December in Moonachie, New Jersey. It filmed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in January 2024, and later in Independence Township, New Jersey in March. The series used de-aging technology from the artificial intelligence studio, Deep Voodoo.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 32% approval rating with an average rating of 5.2/10, based on 31 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Starring Billy Crystal playing against type, Before initially intrigues but doesn't bring enough ideas or variety to sustain what comes after." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 46 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
