In Sunny , it’s a robot that steals the show. The Apple TV+ black comedy chronicles the tumultuous relationship between Suzie ( Rashida Jones ) and her eponymous domestic robot , Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura). Sunny’s not your average clunky, gray robot with delayed reactions.
She’s a domestic assistant with impressive dexterity and emotional intelligence. In Japan, where the show is set, this AI bot arrives on Suzie’s doorstep from her husband's electronics company as a consolation gift after he and their son disappeared in a plane crash. At first a surrogate companion, Sunny becomes a central character as significant as Suzie.
Though Sunny is based on Colin O'Sullivan’s 2018 novel The Dark Manual , the show takes some creative liberties in its adaptation (for instance, the male robot is gender-swapped for Robbins’ production), but the unnerving presence of Sunny translates. In the book, O'Sullivan describes Suzie’s first examination of the homebot: “It has no features. It cannot show surprise or anguish or confusion, and yet Susie can see all of these emotions on its smooth blank face.
Emotions? Is that what she means?” This pairing of AI and emotional intellect is the core focus for Sunny . “It was interesting to think about Sunny as simply as we could while retaining some sort of emotional capability,” showrunner Katie Robbins explained to The Daily Beast’s Obsessed in a recent interview. Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura) and Rashida Jones in S.