Apple TV’s upcoming thriller series Are You Sleeping has just gained several stars. Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) joins the series as the male lead while Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us), Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds), Mekhi Phifer (ER), Michael Beach (Sons of Anarchy), Tracie Thoms (Rent) and Haneefah Wood (One Day at a Time) have also been cast.
Are You Sleeping will see Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex) as Josie Burchman, a young woman who is trying to hide the secrets of her past. Caplin will have a dual role as Josie’s twin sister Lanie, who betrayed Josie in an unimaginable way. Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) was the first to be cast and will star as investigative journalist Poppy Parnell who is opening up a decades-old murder conviction through a podcast.
Paul will play convicted murderer Warren Cave, whose guilt or innocence has remained a question in many people’s minds for the past 20 years.
Jones will play Leander “Shreve” Scoville, the father to Poppy (Spencer).
Perkins, a three-time Emmy nominee, will play Melanie Cave, the mother to Warren (Paul), who is the subject of Poppy’s podcast.
Phifer will play Markus Knox, a former detective and Poppy’s longtime friend.
Thoms is set as Desiree Scoville, Poppy’s older and opinionated sister.
Wood rounds out the cast as Cydie Scoville, Poppy’s fiercely loyal sister.
Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family’s reputation and with good reason. After her father’s murder thirteen years prior, her mother ran away to join a cult and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie’s closest friend and confidant, betrayed her in an unimaginable way. Now, Josie has finally put down roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb, and that’s where she intends to stay.
The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past–starting with her last name.
When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a mega-hit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie’s world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, the unexpected death of Josie’s long-absent mother forces her to return to her Midwestern hometown where she must confront the demons from her past–and the lies on which she has staked her future.
Originally published June 15, 2018. Updated November 21, 2019.
