Maniac

Maniac is an American psychological black comedy-drama streaming television miniseries that premiered on Netflix on September 21, 2018, after being announced in 2016. Patrick Somerville created the series and Cary Joji Fukunaga directed, basing it very loosely on the 2015 Norwegian television series of the same name (starring co-creator Espen PA Lervaag) while drawing inspiration from many more famous films. The 10-episode series stars Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Justin Theroux, Sonoya Mizuno, Gabriel Byrne, and Sally Field. The plot follows two strangers who connect during a mind-bending pharmaceutical trial set in a retro-future New York City. The series received positive reviews from critics upon release, with many praising its visuals, direction, and acting, particularly the performances of Stone and Hill. The series received multiple accolades, including nominations for Stone's performance—both at the 23rd Satellite Awards and the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards—and for the series's overall writing—at the 71st Writers Guild of America Awards. Premise Maniac follows Annie Landsberg and Owen Milgrim (see also Milgram experiments), two strangers who connect during a risky, psychologically intense, twelve-person, mind-bending pharmaceutical trial conducted by Neberdine Pharmaceutical Biotech (NPB). The experiment, originally overseen by Dr. Robert Muramoto and Dr. Azumi Fujita, later falls under the purview of the study's original designer, the eccentric Dr. James K. Mantleray. Together, Annie and Owen go on a mind-bending odyssey through various hallucinatory worlds. Languages In addition to English, the original voicework features spoken Japanese and Icelandic, and (to a lesser extent) French. Netflix offers at least five different dubbings and five different subtitle options in different languages.