Logline: As a catastrophic nuclear war unfolds between India and Pakistan, top White House climate advisor Dr. Lauren Fuller must navigate treacherous internal political battles and advise bold actions to avert rapid cooling of the climate and the threat of global famine. However, personal vendettas threaten to derail her career.
Since the 1980s, scientists led by Carl Sagan have rung the warning bells about the potential for nuclear winter. Even in a limited nuclear war, the soot produced by the firestorms in cities after nuclear detonations could block light from the sun, cool the Earth’s temperatures, and unleash a cataclysmic global famine that would last for at least a decade, its devastation concentrated in countries located in the northern latitudes. Given today’s constant instability caused by climate disruptions, the imperative for reducing the risk of nuclear war and eliminating nuclear weapons has thus never been greater.
Imagine for a moment that the uncomfortable and unspoken truth portrayed by Dark Sun were to become a reality: today, any nation possessing the world’s most destructive weapons runs the risk of getting annihilated by them without even experiencing any devastation from a nuclear attack. This situation amounts to a dangerous new type of “mutual assured destruction” among nuclear-armed states and non-nuclear states alike. A limited nuclear war anywhere could lead to major catastrophe everywhere. Thus, until humanity succeeds in ridding the world of its most destructive weapons, the looming risk of nuclear winter casts our future under a dark shadow.
Dark Sun is a limited series drama with elements of thriller and political intrigue, exploring the themes of nuclear war, climate change, political maneuvering, race, and gender issues while focusing on the personal and professional journey of Dr. Lauren Fuller, a female, black, climate scientist working at the White House. As powerful forces in the White House politicize the looming climate catastrophe, Lauren must prove the worth of her expertise, navigate the fallout of past mistakes, and find a way to get the President to heed scientific warnings—all while India and Pakistan spiral toward a fateful showdown. In 2024, the screenplay was selected as a semi-finalist by the North Fork TV Festival and a second-rounder by the Austin Film Festival.
