Netflix Releases Trailer for Final Season of Popular Dramedy

Netflix has released a new trailer for the final season of Atypical, a popular dramedy on the streaming service. Atypical stars Kier Gilchrist as Sam, a young adult on the autism spectrum who is learning to live life more independently by taking risks on new experiences. The fourth, and final, season of the series will see Sam’s journey continue to evolve, as those around him, including his parents, face changing circumstances and new situations, as well.

In addition to Gilchrist, Atypical also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michael Rapaport as Sam’s parents, Elsa and Doug, respectively. Brigette Lundy-Paine plays Sam’s sister, Casey, and the show has also featured a number of guest and recurring stars such as Sara Gilbert (The Conners), who played Professor Judd, “a university Ethics professor who is generally irritable and chronically underwhelmed, yet capable of compassion.” The show is written by Robia Rashid (Will & Grace, How I Met Your Mother), who also executive produces.

In a past interview with Variety, Gilchrist shared details of how he prepared to play Sam. “My rep set me up with Robia [Rashid], the creator of the show, so I got to sit down with her for a couple of hours. It was a very lengthy audition process, and we talked a lot about the various ways in which I could play Sam,” he said.

Gilchrist went on to share, “The most helpful piece of research was the book The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband. The book ended up being a really big contributing factor in creating Sam’s character.” The actor later went on to detail some of the important character details about Sam, and shared that visualizing his perception is really important.

“With Sam, his senses spiral all over the place, so we try to incorporate visually what is going on in his brain. We’ll show slow-motion close-ups of people’s mouths moving, fluorescent lights flickering, which is the way people on the [autism] spectrum often describe what’s happening when things become too much,” he explained. “In those kinds of scenes, I try to put myself in positions to which anyone can relate — getting bullied at school or getting overwhelmed with a partner. But with Sam, he becomes a little more frightened.” Atypical Seasons 1-3 are now streaming Netflix. Season 4 debuts on July 9.