The world of non-stop streaming releases that we're living in means that it's very possible to sometimes not even realise a show's coming until it's either imminent or already out. That's what's happened to me where Nautilus is concerned - it had completely passed me by.
Whether that's because Amazon isn't shouting too much about the show ahead of its arrival on 25 October, or because I wasn't paying attention, a full-scale trailer came out a couple of weeks ago and has me immediately interested.
While much has been made of the amount of money Amazon's spent on its mega-bucks The Rings of Power so far, it's not like it's unwilling to splash the cash on other series, as Nautilus demonstrates. This looks like a visually ambitious retelling of the classic story of Captain Nemo from Jules Vernes' Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.
Just like the source text, Nautilus therefore looks like it's pretty steampunk in its aesthetics, with all sorts of vaguely fantastical technology bouncing around the place. It'll see Nemo start from rude beginnings as he battles against the tyrannical East India Mercantile Company, before stealing the titular underwater vessel to make it his own.
With a core cast of relatively new faces, there are some bigger guest stars popping in for the odd episode, including what looks like some scenery-chewing fun from Richard E Grant. Shazad Latif takes up the mantle of Nemo himself in a starring role.
It turns out the show has an interesting backstory of its own, too - it was initially going to be a Disney+ exclusive around the world, but Disney backed away from it last year. The series was picked up by AMC in the US, and Prime Video here in the UK and Ireland. Whether that bodes well or not might be up to how cynical you're feeling, but decisions like Disney's aren't always taken purely in light of a show's quality.
So, colour me curious - I'll be checking out the show when it arrives on 25 October and will cross my fingers until then that this ends up being a truly great surprise. Arrivals you didn't see coming are a key part of standing out as the best streaming service going, after all.
