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Gina Rodriguez takes us to a world of mass insomnia terror in first trailer for Netflix's sci-fi horror film ‘Awake’

By Benjamin Bullard

Bird Box deprived us of sight, and A Quiet Place shushed us not to make a sound. Now Netflix is taking away what may be the most important survival pick-me-up of all for Awake, its upcoming sci-fi horror movie starring Gina Rodriguez heading to the streamer this June.

How can you cope with the impending apocalypse when you can’t even get a moment’s shut-eye? How can you even be sure that the strange and sudden phenomenon of mass insomnia — which seems to have most of the world in its sudden grip — isn’t the biggest contributor to the total and rapid collapse of society that’s taking place all around you?

That’s the setup for Awake, which finds Jill (Rodriguez) struggling to stave off the increasingly mind-warping effects that come with not being able to fall asleep, all while racing to learn how her daughter might just hold the key to curing the mysterious malignancy and bring the world back to order.

No one’s snoozing through Awake’s action-packed trailer:

Awake Netflix poster

Though Jill and her daughter see the calamitous event that jump-starts everyone into a permanent state of awakening, no one knows where it came from or why it’s happening. “Global hysteria ensues after a mysterious catastrophe wipes out all electronics and takes away humanity's ability to sleep,” teases Netflix. “Scientists race against the clock to find a cure for the unexplained insomnia before its fatal effects eliminate the human race.”

That leaves Jill, an ex-soldier, to put her skills to use in a race against her own sleep-starved mind and body to get to the bottom of things before she — and the rest of the planet — descend into madness and death. With her daughter possessed of gifts that might hold “the key to salvation,” she’s faced with a choice: “protect her children at all costs or sacrifice everything to save the world.”

Netflix is rolling out a bevy of big genre movies to satisfy our summertime binge cravings, kicking things off with Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead on May 21. Awake falls right in line with that think-big production approach, assembling a star cast for its horror-tinged foray into the fever-dream world of sleep-deprived hallucination. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, The Kennedys) star with Rodriguez alongside young actor Ariana Greenblatt (Scoob!, The One and Only Ivan), Frances Fisher (Watchmen), Shamier Anderson (Wynonna Earp), Finn Jones (Iron Fist, Game of Thrones), Lucius Hoyos (Between), and Gil Bellows (The Shawshank Redemption, Ally McBeal).

Don’t sleep on it: the panic will be here before you know it. Watch for insomnia to creep in when Awake premieres at Netflix on June 9.