''Counterpart'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

thriller television series starring

J. K. Simmons Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor, considered one of the most prolific and well-established character actors of his generation. He has appeared in over 200 films and television roles since his debut in 1986. He ...

. It was created by

Justin Marks Justin Marks (born March 25, 1981) is an American racing driver, entrepreneur, and current owner of Trackhouse Racing Team in the NASCAR Cup Series. He last competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the No. 93 for Meyer Shank R ...

and was first broadcast on the

premium cable Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

network

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

. The series ran for 20 episodes across two seasons. It premiered on December 10, 2017, and aired its final episode on February 17, 2019.

Premise

Howard Silk, a gentle, quiet office worker, has been working for a

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

-based

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

agency, the Office of Interchange (OI), for thirty years. His position is too low for him to be told what his work—exchanging apparently nonsensical messages—really involves. The OI oversees a checkpoint below its headquarters between parallel Earths (the "Alpha" and "Prime" worlds). The parallel Earths were created in 1987 during an experiment by

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

when only a scientist named Yanek was on-site. The "Alpha world" Yanek met his "Prime world" counterpart, and they soon began studying how the initially identical Earths diverge. The differences between the two worlds become more pronounced after 1996, when a

flu pandemic An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been six major influenza epidemics in the last ...

killed hundreds of millions in the Prime world, setting back the world technologically but advancing it in life sciences. The virus was suspected of being purposely released by the Alpha world into the Prime world, which resulted in a tense

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

between the two worlds, with counterparts used as spies and

sleeper agent A sleeper agent, also called sleeper cell, is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization not to undertake an immediate mission but to act as a potential asset if activated. Even if unactivated, the "sleeper agent" is still an asset ...

s. Silk's Alpha world continues to resemble ours, but the Prime world becomes quite different. Howard Silk Prime is a ruthless

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

operative. Matters escalate during the series when a powerful rogue faction on Prime executes long-simmering plans to get revenge on Alpha.

Cast and characters

Main

as Howard Silk, an Interface employee at the Alpha world's Office of Interchange (OI), and as Howard Silk Prime, an accomplished agent for Section 2 (

clandestine operation A clandestine operation is an intelligence or military operation carried out in such a way that the operation goes unnoticed by the general population or specific enemy forces. Until the 1970s, clandestine operations were primarily political in ...

s) of OI in the Prime world *

Olivia Williams Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is a British actress who has appeared in British and American films and television. After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakesp ...

as Emily Burton-Silk, Howard's wife in the Alpha world and an employee of Housekeeping (the

counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

function) at OI, and as Emily Burton, Prime Howard's ex-wife and also an employee of OI Housekeeping *

Harry Lloyd Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd (born 17 November 1983) is an English actor. His performance in the Channel 4 miniseries '' The Fear'' (2012) earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination. He gained prominence through his roles as Will ...

as Peter Quayle, OI Director of Strategy in the Alpha world and Clare's husband *

Nazanin Boniadi Nazanin Boniadi (; fa, نازنین بنیادی, ; born 22 May 1980) is an Iranian-British actress and activist. Born in Tehran and raised in London, she went to university in the United States, where she landed her first major acting role as ...

as Clare, Peter Quayle's wife *

Sara Serraiocco Sara Serraiocco (born 13 August 1990) is an Italian actress, best known for playing Baldwin in the TV series '' Counterpart''. Life and career Born in Pescara, Serraiocco developed from a young age a passion for dance and cinema, later workin ...

as Nadia Fierro/Baldwin, a mysterious assassin from the Prime world *

Ulrich Thomsen Ulrich Thomsen (born 6 December 1963) is a Danish actor and filmmaker, known for his role of Kai Proctor in the Cinemax original series ''Banshee'' (2013-2016). Biography Ulrich Thomsen was born in (Næsby) Odense, Denmark and graduated from th ...

as Josef Aldrich (season 1), OI Director of Housekeeping in the Alpha world *

Nicholas Pinnock Nicholas Andre Pinnock (born 2 September 1973) is a British actor. He is known for his roles as lead character Aaron Wallace in the American legal drama '' For Life'' and Leon in award-winning Channel 4 drama ''Top Boy''. Early life and educa ...

as Ian Shaw, an aggressive OI Housekeeping operative and watchdog in the Prime world, and Emily Prime's lover after her marriage broke down *

Mido Hamada Mido Hamada ( arz, ميدو حمادة ; born 1971) is an Egyptian-German actor in film, theatre and television. Early life He was born in Cairo, Egypt to an Egyptian family that moved to Germany, where he studied at the American Embassy School ...

as Cyrus (season 1), an OI Housekeeping operative under Aldrich * Betty Gabriel as Naya Temple (season 2), a former FBI agent hired by the OI in the Alpha world to clean house *

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include ''Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen'' ...

as Yanek (season 2), the warden of Echo, an underground facility in the Prime world, the scientist from Alpha in 1987 (played by

Samuel Roukin Samuel Roukin (ROO-kin; born 15 August 1980) is an English actor and DJ. He is best known for his role as John Graves Simcoe in the series, '' Turn: Washington's Spies'' and Simon "Ghost" Riley in ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.'' Early li ...

) whose inattentive moment allowed an experiment to run amok and create Prime and the single corridor connecting the two worlds

Recurring

Ken Duken Ken Duken (born 17 April 1979) is a German actor and director. Early life Ken Duken is the third child of film and stage actress Christina Loeb; his father is a doctor. Duken never attended a drama school but took courses in drama, including un ...

as Spencer, Clare's childhood boyfriend and infiltrator from the Prime world *

Kenneth Choi Kenneth Choi (born October 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for playing Henry Lin on the television series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–2014), Chester Ming in Martin Scorsese's '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013), and Judge Lance It ...

as Bob Dwyer, OI Director of Strategy in the Prime world *

Guy Burnet Guy Burnet (born 8 August 1983) is a British theatre, film and television actor. Early life Burnet was born in London, England. He attended Holland Park School where his interest in drama first developed, taking an A level in the subject. Bef ...

as Claude Lambert, the Prime ambassador to the Alpha world, later revealed to have a close personal relationship with Claude (Alpha) *

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born 31 October 1946) is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as ''V for Vendetta'', ''Michael Collins'', ''Interview with the Vampire'' and ''Breakfast on Pluto''. Rea was nominated for the Academy Award ...

as Alexander Pope (season 1), Howard Prime's mentor and an influential associate of the Indigo program * Bernhard Forcher as Andrei, Howard Alpha's friend and Go partner and Emily Alpha's lover *

Sarah Bolger Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

as Anna Burton-Silk, Howard and Emily Prime's daughter * Bjorn Johnson as Heinrich, an

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

from the Prime world and part of Howard Prime's contact network *

Lotte Verbeek Lotte Verbeek (born 24 June 1982) is a Dutch actress, dancer and model. She is known for her role as Giulia Farnese in '' The Borgias'' television series created by Neil Jordan, and as Geillis Duncan in the Starz series '' Outlander''. Early li ...

as Helen Mueller ("Ringleader"), one of a trio of infiltrators from the Prime world * Karim Saleh as Marcel, an OI Interface employee in the Alpha world *

Richard Schiff Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...

as Roland Fancher, OI Director of Diplomacy and Quayle's father-in-law *

Nolan Gerard Funk Nolan Gerard Funk (born July 28, 1986) is a Canadian actor and singer known for portraying Hunter Clarington in the musical comedy-drama television series ''Glee'', Collin Jennings in the comedy-drama television series ''Awkward'', "Angel Eyes" ...

as Angel Eyes, one of a trio of infiltrators from the Prime world *

Liv Lisa Fries Liv Lisa Fries (born 31 October 1990) is a German actress who has appeared in several films and who gained an international following as the female lead Charlotte Ritter in the German TV series ''Babylon Berlin'', which first premiered in 2017. ...

as Greta, a barista in the Alpha world who becomes involved with Baldwin *

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

as Charlotte Burton, Emily's mother *

Christiane Paul Christiane Paul (; born 8 March 1974 in Berlin-Pankow) is a German film, television and stage actress. Paul first worked as a model for magazines such as '' Bravo''. She was 17 when she obtained her first leading role in the film '. Prior to h ...

as Mira, the head of the Indigo program's school in the Prime world, daughter of Yanek, and briefly appears as Mira (Alpha) * Stefan Kapičić as Lieber, Ian Shaw's right-hand man * Jacqueline Antaramian as Ava Fancher, Roland's wife *

Ingo Rademacher Ingo Rademacher (born 22 April 1971) is a German-Australian television actor best known for his role of Jasper "Jax" Jacks on the American daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'', which he played almost continuously from 1996 to 2021. In 2012, ...

as Friedrich, Quayle's best friend *

Marco Khan Marco Khan (born Marco Khanlian; * March 27, 1961) is an Iranian-born Armenian-American actor and stunt performer. He has appeared in numerous well-known film and television series like '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Iron Man,' ...

as Raash, Howard Prime's right-hand man, a loyal and reliable operative

Episodes

Season 1 (2017–18)

Season 2 (2018–19)

Notes

Production

The series was ordered in April 2015 with

announced to star. Production began in December 2016 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The series would also be filmed in additional locations across the U.S. and Europe in 2017, including

, where the series is set, and in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Babelsberg Studio Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

, which co-produced the series. Amy Berg served as showrunner, executive producer, and writer for the first season, but departed before season two. Production began on the second season in February 2018 in Berlin. After Starz opted not to order more episodes, the series' production company

Media Rights Capital MRC II Distribution Company L.P., doing business as MRC (formerly Media Rights Capital), is an American film and television studio. Founded by Mordecai (Modi) Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, the company funds and produces film and television programming. ...

sought another home for the show. The effort was not successful.

Reception

Critical response

''Counterpart'' was well received by critics. The first season has a "certified fresh" 100% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

with an average rating of 8.4 out of 10 based on 48 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 Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the first season has a score of 76 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The second season also received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 100% approval rating with an average rating 8 out of 10 based on 22 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Double the J.K. Simmons brings double the aplomb in the second season of ''Counterpart'', which finds time to deliver relevant societal critiques while deepening its labyrinthine lore." On Metacritic, it has a score of 75 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Ratings

Season 1

Season 2

Accolades

Home media

The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 31, 2018, in region 1. The set includes all 10 episodes plus two behind-the-scenes featurettes.

References

External links

* {{Starz Shows 2010s American drama television series 2010s American science fiction television series 2017 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings American spy thriller television series English-language television shows Espionage television series Starz original programming Television series about parallel universes Television series by Anonymous Content Television series by Media Rights Capital Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in Berlin