Counterpart is an American science fiction thriller television series created by Justin Marks on the premium cable network Starz. It has been picked up for two 10-episode seasons. The first episode was directed by Morten Tyldum. The premiere episode first aired on December 10, 2017. It stars Academy Award-winning actor J. K. Simmons in a dual role.
In February 2018, Starz announced that production had begun in Berlin on the second season.
Video Counterpart (TV series)
Premise
Howard Silk has been working for a bureaucratic UN agency based in Berlin for thirty years; however, his station is too low for him to be told what his work really involves. In fact, the agency oversees a crossing point to a parallel Earth (the "Prime world"), a copy of Howard's world, which was created by East German scientists in 1987, and which has been diverging ever since. Silk's "other" self, his counterpart from the Prime world, is, among other things, a field agent who regularly makes crossings to Silk's world (the "Alpha world") to retrieve "others" who have gone rogue. Factional in-fighting in the agency in the Prime world spills over to the Alpha world, endangering Silk and his comatose wife, Emily.
Maps Counterpart (TV series)
Cast
Main
- J. K. Simmons as Howard Silk, an Interface employee at the Office of Interchange (OI), a Berlin-based UN spy agency
- Olivia Williams as Emily Silk (née Burton), Howard's wife
- Harry Lloyd as Peter Quayle, OI Director of Strategy in the Alpha world
- Nazanin Boniadi as Clare, Peter Quayle's wife and a mole from the Prime world
- Sara Serraiocco as Nadia Fierro / Baldwin, a mysterious assassin
- Ulrich Thomsen as Aldrich, OI Director of Housekeeping in the Alpha world
- Nicholas Pinnock as Ian Shaw, an aggressive OI Housekeeping operative and watchdog in the Prime world
- Mido Hamada as Cyrus, an OI Housekeeping operative under Aldrich
- Betty Gabriel as Naya Temple, a former FBI agent hired by the OI to clean house (season 2)
Recurring
- Kenneth Choi as Bob Dwyer, OI Director of Strategy in the Prime world
- Guy Burnet as Claude Lambert, the Prime ambassador to the Alpha world
- Stephen Rea as Alexander Pope, Howard Prime's mentor and an influential associate of the Indigo program
- Bernhard Forcher as Andrei, Howard Alpha's Go partner
- Sarah Bolger as Anna Burton-Silk, Howard and Emily Prime's daughter
- Bjorn Johnson as Heinrich, an expatriate from the Prime world and part of Howard Prime's contact network
- Lotte Verbeek as Ringleader, one of a trio of infiltrators from the Prime world
- Jamie Bamber as Eric Burton, Emily's brother
- Karim Saleh as Marcel, an OI Interface employee in the Alpha world
- Richard Schiff as Roland Fancher, OI Director of Diplomacy and Quayle's father-in-law
- Nolan Gerard Funk as Angel Eyes, one of a trio of infiltrators from the Prime world
- Liv Lisa Fries as Greta, a barista who becomes involved with Baldwin
- Jacqueline Bisset as Charlotte Burton, Emily's mother
- Stefan Kapi?i? as Lieber, Ian Shaw's right-hand man
- Jacqueline Antaramian as Ava Fancher, Roland's wife
- Christiane Paul as Mira, the head of the Indigo program's school
- Ingo Rademacher as Friedrich, Quayle's best friend
- Marco Khan as Raash, Howard Prime's right-hand man, a loyal and reliable operative
Episodes
Notes
Production
The series was ordered in April 2015 with J. K. Simmons announced to star. Production began in December 2016 in Los Angeles, and it was announced that the series would be filmed in additional locations across the U.S. and Europe in 2017, including Berlin, where the series is set, and in Potsdam at Babelsberg Studio, which is co-producing the series. Amy Berg served as showrunner, an executive producer and a writer for the first season, but departed after the season completed filming, in a mutual decision.
In February 2018, Betty Gabriel was announced as joining the cast as Naya Temple, a former FBI agent.
Reception
Ratings
Critical response
Counterpart has been well received by critics. The first season has a "certified fresh" 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating 8.39 out of 10 based on 32 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Tense and gripping, Counterpart is an absorbing thrill-fest led by J. K. Simmons' multi-faceted dual lead performance." On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 76 out of 100 based 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Home media
The first season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 24, 2018. The set includes all 10 episodes plus two behind-the-scenes featurettes.
References
External links
- Counterpart on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia