Away season 1 is now streaming on Netflix with Ato Essandoh

Away season 1 stars Chicago Med alum Ato Essandoh.

Chicago Med fans can head to outer space this weekend as Away season 1, starring fan favorite Ato Essandoh, is now available to stream on Netflix.

The latest Netflix original series is a character-driven space drama created by Andrew Hinderaker (Pure Genius) and produced by Ed Zwick (Thirtysomething, Once & Again).

In Away season 1, NASA mounts its first crewed mission to Mars. The commander is Emma Green (played by two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank), who leads a team of other astronauts from around the world.

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One of those is Kwesi Weisberg-Annan, played by Essandoh, who previously recurred on Chicago Med as cardiothoracic surgery chief Dr. Isidore Latham.

Kwesi represents Britain on the crew but hails originally from Ghana. He’s an expert botanist who is excited about the prospect of literal life on Mars.

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Essandoh’s performance as Latham has been one of the best things about the last few seasons of Med, although his number of appearances has dwindled—but for a good reason as he’s been busy with other great projects like this. Now with this series he’s one of the main cast members so he’ll be front and center, and have plenty of screen time that should make up for all of the brief Latham appearances in the One Chicago universe.

Aside from Ato Essandoh there are a lot of things to like about Away season 1, particularly when it comes to the cast. Aside from Hilary Swank, the show also co-stars Josh Charles (The Good Wife) as Emma’s husband Matt Logan, who has two responsibilites to balance because he’s also one of the top NASA engineers working the mission from home.

Mark Ivanir, Vivian Wu and Ray Panthaki make up the rest of the astronaut roaster, so this is an incredibly diverse series that literally brings the whole world together to accomplish a common goal that mankind has been looking toward for decades. Will Emma and her crew make it to Mars? When they do, will it be worth the wait?

There’s a lot of great story potential here, and something fantastic about a space exploration drama when viewers aren’t able to go on their own adventures. If nothing else, the acting should be top-notch, and no one should ever pass up a chance to see Ato Essandoh in any role. You can start streaming Away season 1 on Netflix now.

For the latest Chicago Med season 5 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Med category at One Chicago Center.