Apple TV+ has unveiled a new trailer for City on Fire, its highly-anticipated series adaptation of Garth Risk Hallberg’s acclaimed novel of the same name. Coming from Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the show revolves around the murder of a young woman who was connected to a series of mysterious fires.

The trailer introduces us to Samantha (Chase Sui Wonders), a young woman who gets shot and killed on the Fourth of July. Despite New York City being one of the most surveilled cities in the world, the police struggle to find clues and solve Samantha’s case. Still, during their investigation, they uncover some unnerving connections between the woman, mysterious fires in the city, and a wealthy family. Meanwhile, Samantha’s best friend, Charlie (Wyatt Oleff), does whatever he can to solve the mystery of Samantha’s death, inadvertently getting entangled in a web of lies and deception.

The City on Fire trailer underlines how the upcoming series will deviate from Hallberg’s original work to update the story. In the novel, the shooting of Samantha happens on New Year’s Eve, while the murder of the TV adaptation happens on the Fourth of July. In addition, Hallberg’s novel takes place in the 1970s and explores the underground punk music scene. As for the TV series, the story happens in 2003, two years after the World Trade Center twin towers fell. So, while the series reuses the same investigative structure of the book it is based on, Apple TV+ will explore a different kind of political and cultural landscape.

When Is City on Fire Coming to Apple TV+?

City on Fire’s cast also includes Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, Ashley Zukerman, Xavier Clyde, Max Milner, Alexandra Doke, Omid Abtahi, Kathleen Munroe, John Cameron Mitchell, Geoff Pierson and Beth Malone. Schwartz and Savage wrote all eight episodes of the series and serve as showrunners and executive producers under Fake Empire. Jesse Peretz directs four episodes and serves as executive producer. Fake Empire’s Lis Rowinski serves as co-executive producer. It’s going to be interesting to see Schwartz and Savage tackling a new young adult mystery, especially after their Gossip Girl reboot failed to live up to fans’ expectations.

City on Fire will premiere globally with the first three episodes on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 12. After that, new episodes come to the streamer every Friday. Check out the new trailer and the series’ synopsis below.

In ‘City on Fire,’ an NYU student is shot in Central Park on the Fourth of July, 2003. Samantha is alone; there are no witnesses and very little physical evidence. Her friends’ band is playing at her favorite downtown club but she leaves to meet someone, promising to return. She never does. As the crime against Samantha is investigated, she’s revealed to be the crucial connection between a series of mysterious citywide fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy uptown real estate family fraying under the strain of the many secrets they keep.

via Collider