''Liaison'' is a British-French

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

television series written by Virginie Brac, directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled History of the Jews in France, French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film ''La Haine (Hate)'', for which he ...

and Eva Green. It premiered on 24 February 2023 on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

Synopsis

A thriller following French spies and terrorists.

Cast

– Gabriel Delage, Alison’s former lover, a mercenary for Telkis and a former

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

and DGSE operative * Eva Green – Alison Rowdy, Delage’s Anglo-French former lover and a Home Office Special Adviser to the Minister of Security * Peter Mullan – Richard Banks, the

Minister of State for Security The minister of state for security is a ministerial position in the government of the United Kingdom, falling under the Home Office. The post was created by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 3 June 2009 by splitting the now-defunct post of the ...

* Gérard Lanvin – Alain Dumas, the CEO of private security firm Telkis, former DGSE commander and Delage’s superior * Daniel Francis – Albert Onwori, a human rights lawyer and Alison's current partner * Stanislas Merhar – Didier Taraud, a senior adviser to the French President and head of an Elysee Palace taskforce set up to counter the powers of the DGSE. * Irène Jacob – Sophie Saint-Roch, the Director of the DGSE *

Laëtitia Eïdo Laëtitia Eïdo (born October 25, 1985) is a French actress, born to a French father and a Lebanese mother. She is best known as Dr. Shirin El Abed, one of the leading roles in the State of Israel, Israeli Netflix series ''Fauda'', and as the voic ...

– Sabine Louseau, Taraud's mistress and a senior aide in the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

Eriq Ebouaney Eriq Ebouaney (born 3 October 1967) is a French actor. He is best known for his portrayal as the Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in the 2000 film '' Lumumba'', as "Blacktie" in Brian De Palma's ''Femme Fatale'' and as "Ice" in the 2008 ...

– Bob Foret, a board member of private security firm Antropa * Patrick Kennedy - Mark Bolton OBE, CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre *

Bukky Bakray Bukky Bakray (born 2002) is a British actress and writer. She is known for her breakthrough debut role in the 2019 coming-of-age drama film ''Rocks''. At 19, she became the youngest BAFTA Rising Star Award recipient as well as one of the younges ...

– Kim Onwori, Albert's teenage daughter * Olivia Popica - Hobbs, a Detective Inspector in the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

SO15 Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) or SO15 is a Specialist Operations branch within London's Metropolitan Police Service. The Counter Terrorism Command was established as a result of the merging of the Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13) and Special Bran ...

Patrick Malahide Patrick Gerald Duggan (born 24 March 1945), known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a veteran British film, television and theatre actor, author and producer, known, amongst other things, for his roles as Inspector Alleyn in ''The Inspect ...

- Jack Rowdy, Alison’s father, a former

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe. *

Aziz Dyab Abdulaziz Dyab (born 1995) is a Syrian-German actor. His films include ''Je suis Karl'' (2021). On television, he is known for his roles in the Netflix series '' Unorthodox'' (2020) and the Apple TV+ series '' Liaison'' (2023). Early life Dyab w ...

– Samir Hamza, a Syrian hacker and Walid’s younger cousin *Marco Horanieh – Walid Hamza, a Syrian hacker and Samir’s older cousin *Lyna Dubarry – Myriam Hamza, Samir’s wife and mother of his child *

Thierry Frémont Thierry Frémont (born 24 July 1962) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films and television shows since 1984. He starred in the 1991 film ''Fortune Express'', which was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival. ...

– the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Tchéky Karyo Tchéky Karyo (; born 4 October 1953) is a French actor and musician of Turkish origin. Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary works, he began to work as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He has acted in nu ...

- Joseph Miller, the CEO of Antropa

Episodes

Production

Development

In June 2021, it was announced that Apple TV+ had greenlit ''Liaison'', marking the platform's first "Anglo-French" production. Stephen Hopkins is directing, Virginie Brac is writing, and Gub Neal and Jean Benoit Gillig are executive producing. Additional executive producers include Hopkins, Sarada McDermott, Justin Thomson, and Ed Barlow, with Joanie Blaikie and Eric Jollant producing. It is co-produced by Ringside Studios and Léonis Productions.

Casting

It was announced alongside the main series announcement in June 2021 that

and Eva Green would star. Also cast were British actors Peter Mullan, Daniel Francis, and

and French actors Gérard Lanvin, Stanislas Merhar,

Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (born 25 April 1963) is a French actress. She is the daughter of actor Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu and model Françoise Laurent. She made her screen debut in the 1983 comedy-drama film '' Surprise Party'', and in 1985 starr ...

and

Filming

Principal photography began in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in June 2021. Filming was expected to conclude in October.

Response

The series has received mixed reviews from critics. At

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 ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating, the series has received an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". New York Times: ‘Liaison’: Vincent Cassel and Eva Green Simmer as Global Tensions Boil Wall Street Journal: ‘Liaison’ Review: A Spy Thriller in Brexit’s Shadow

References

External links

* {{Apple TV+ 2023 British television series debuts 2023 French television series debuts 2020s British drama television series 2020s French drama television series Apple TV+ original programming English-language television shows French-language television shows Television shows set in London Television shows set in Paris