Physical is an American comedy-drama television series created by Annie Weisman. The series premiered on Apple TV+ on June 18, 2021. In August 2021, the series was renewed for a second season ahead of its first season finale, which premiered in June 2022. In August 2022, the series was renewed for a third season. The third and final season premiered in August 2023.
Set in 1980s San Diego, Physical is a dark comedy following Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne) through her journey of self-discovery via aerobics.
In January 2020, it was reported that Apple was nearing a series order for Physical, created and written by Annie Weisman, with Tomorrow Studios set to produce. In December 2020, Craig Gillespie, Liza Johnson, and Stephanie Laing were announced as directors for the series, with Gillespie set to direct the pilot episode. The series is a half-hour long and consists of ten episodes.
On August 4, 2021, Apple TV+ renewed the series for a second season. On August 11, 2022, Apple TV+ renewed the series for a third season.
In January 2020, Rose Byrne was reported as headlining Physical. In December 2020, it was announced that Byrne was playing the role of Sheila Rubin, with Paul Sparks, Rory Scovel, Lou Taylor Pucci, Della Saba, Dierdre Friel, and Ashley Liao joining the cast. Geoffrey Arend joined the cast in January 2021, with Ian Gomez joining in April 2021. In October 2022, Zooey Deschanel joined the cast for the third season.
Filming for the first season began in November 2020 and ended in March 2021. The second season began filming in November 2021 and ended in March 2022.
The series premiered on June 18, 2021, on Apple TV + globally with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis, every Friday. The second season premiered on June 3, 2022. The third and final season was released on August 2, 2023.
On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 65% based on 51 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads:
However German magazine Spiegel praised the show for maintaining its satirical take on shallow consumerism beyond the initial episodes, noting that it "thankfully doesn't develop into the edifying but mendacious self-empowerment drama that convention would demand, and some critics apparently expected," and suggested that this may have been the reason for the poor ratings from American reviewers.
The second season has an approval rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads:
The third and final season has an approval rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: