After Borderlands, new Apple TV+ show looks like Cate Blanchett's return to form

Cate Blanchett probably isn't all that used to the kind of critical reception her last blockbuster, Borderlands, received (hi there, 10% Rotten Tomatoes rating). The long-gestating videogame adaptation took quite a pasting from critics, with Blanchett's casting being in the crosshairs for some of these verdicts.

Her latest project looks like it comes from the opposite end of the scale, though, and Disclaimer just got its first full trailer ahead of a release on Apple TV+ on 11 October. It might just underline Apple's claims to have the best streaming service for fans of arthouse shows. 

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This is a series so ambitious that Apple's calling it a "7-part event" rather than just a season of television, and that might just be fair enough. After all, it's the brainchild of Academy Award-winner Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Gravity), who's directed the whole thing.

He's gone on the record already to say that it's basically a seven-part movie in his mind, and it looks like we'll get more of his dreamy and beautifully lit scenes to chew on when it arrives. Despite a more urban setting, on the whole, it's clearly going to be quite a stunning series to look at. 

The series will tell the story of Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett), a hugely successful writer who may or may not have a bit of a secret festering away inside her, about something that happened when she was much younger.

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When a furious bereaved father writes a self-published novel deliberately blurring the lines between fact and fiction about those events, Catherine's life looks like it might quickly start to unravel. This trailer makes clear this will involve some incredibly uncomfortable moments with her husband, Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen), and their son, Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). 

That's already quite a principal cast, and all of this is based on a novel of the same name by Renée Knight, which means you'll be able to sink into another version of the story after you've watched the 'full event' – if it really grips your imagination. 

Given how little press activity Blanchett participated in around the release of Borderlands, we're imagining she'll be a lot happier to talk about Disclaimer in the couple of weeks before it arrives. S don't be surprised if you hear more from her and the show's other stars soon.