''Limitless'' is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

for one season from 2015 to 2016. It is a spin-off of the 2011 film '' Limitless'', and takes place four years after the movie's events. The series stars

Jake McDorman John Allen McDorman IV (born July 8, 1986) is an American actor. On television, he headlined the CBS comedy-drama '' Limitless'' (2015–2016) and was the male lead of the sitcoms '' Are You There, Chelsea?'' (2012) and ''Manhattan Love Story'' ...

as Brian Finch, who discovers a mysterious

nootropic Nootropics ( , or ) (colloquial: smart drugs and cognitive enhancers, similar to adaptogens) are a wide range of natural or synthetic dietary supplement, supplements or drugs and other substances that are claimed to improve cognitive function ...

drug NZT-48, which unlocks the full potential of the human brain and gives its user enhanced mental faculties. ''Limitless'' premiered on CBS on September 22, 2015 to mixed reviews from critics. After a single 22-episode season that ended on April 26, 2016, showrunner Craig Sweeny announced that CBS had cancelled the series.

Premise

Brian Finch, a 28-year-old burnout and struggling writer, is introduced to NZT-48, a miracle drug that gives him access to every neuron in his brain. For twelve hours after taking the pill, he becomes the smartest person in the world, able to perfectly recall every detail of his life and capable of prodigious leaps of intuition and reasoning. With the mysterious

US Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Eddie Morra providing him with an immunity shot to counteract NZT's deadly side effects, Brian uses his enhanced abilities to help

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

agent Rebecca Harris. The FBI doesn't know about the shot and Brian has to struggle to keep both worlds separate.

Cast and characters

Main

as Brian Finch *

Jennifer Carpenter Jennifer Carpenter is an American actress who is known for her role as Debra Morgan in the Showtime series '' Dexter'', for which she earned a Saturn Award in 2009, and also for playing Rebecca Harris in the CBS television series '' Limitles ...

as FBI Special Agent Rebecca Harris * Hill Harper as FBI Special Agent Spelman Boyle, named for

Spelman College Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman rece ...

. *

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (born November 17, 1958) is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut in the 1980 revival of ''West Side Story'', and went on to appear in the 1983 film '' Scarface'' as Al Pacino's character's sist ...

as FBI Special Agent in Charge Nasreen "Naz" Pouran, of

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

origin, commander of the Cross Jurisdictional Command (CJC) team

Recurring

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...

as U.S. Senator Edward "Eddie" Morra, the original protagonist from the 2011 film *

Lio Tipton Lio Tipton (born Analeigh Tipton; November 9, 1988) is an American actor and fashion model. Tipton is known for being the last eliminated on Cycle 11 of ''America's Next Top Model'' and for their roles in the films ''Crazy, Stupid, Love'' (2011 ...

as Shauna, Brian's ex-girlfriend *

Ron Rifkin Ron Rifkin (born Saul M. Rifkin; October 31, 1939) is an American actor best known for his roles as Arvin Sloane on the spy drama '' Alias'', Saul Holden on the drama '' Brothers & Sisters'', and District Attorney Ellis Loew in '' L.A. Confiden ...

as Dennis Finch, Brian's father *

Blair Brown Bonnie Blair Brown (born April 23, 1946) is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play '' Copenhagen'' on Broadway, the leading actress in the films ''Altered States'' ...

as Marie Finch, Brian's mother * Megan Guinan as Rachel Finch, Brian's sister * Tom Degnan as FBI Agent Jason "Ike", Mike's partner and Brian's bodyguard * Michael James Shaw as FBI Agent Daryl "Mike", Ike's partner and Brian's bodyguard *

Colin Salmon Colin Salmon (born ) is a British actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. He has had roles on many television series such as ''Doctor Who'', ''Merli ...

as Jarrod Sands, a former

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

officer who now works as a fixer for Morra *

Desmond Harrington Desmond Harrington (born October 19, 1976) is an American actor. He has appeared in '' The Hole'' (2001), ''Ghost Ship'' (2002), and '' Wrong Turn'' (2003), Desmond joined the cast of the Showtime series '' Dexter'' in its third season, as D ...

as SWAT Agent Casey Rooks *

Georgina Haig Georgina Haig (born 3 August 1985) is an Australian film and television actress, known for her roles in the Australian children's television series '' The Elephant Princess'', as well as the American television series ''Fringe'', '' Limitless'' ...

as Piper Baird * Michael Devine as James "Tech" Padgett * Henry Gagliardi as young Brian Finch

Episodes

Production

Development

On October 31, 2014, it was announced that actor

had decided to develop a television series based on a movie, and had teamed with

Alex Kurtzman Alexander Hilary Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise since 2009, co-writing the scripts to ''Transformers'' (2007), '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' and ...

and

Roberto Orci Roberto Gaston Orcí (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. He began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Together they have been employed on television ...

to develop the concept.

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...

was shopping the show to the American broadcast networks. Craig Sweeny would write the series, while Cooper would serve as executive producer. CBS ordered a pilot on January 28, 2015. In addition to Cooper, Kurtzman, Orci, and Sweeny served as executive producers for the series, which is set 4 years after the original film. On February 3, 2015, it was announced that Marc Webb would direct the pilot.

Casting

On February 26, 2015, it was announced that

had joined the production as Brian Finch. Several additional cast members were announced in March 2015.

plays FBI Special Agent Rebecca Harris. Hill Harper is FBI Special Agent Spelman Boyle. Finally,

was cast as FBI Special Agent in Charge Nasreen "Naz" Pouran, of Iranian origin commander of the Cross Jurisdictional Command (CJC) team.

Broadcast

The premiere of ''Limitless'' was broadcast in the U.S. on CBS on September 22, 2015. In Canada, the show was

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

with the American broadcast, which was aired on

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

. In

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, the TV station

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

aired the series on October 1, 2015. The series premiered in Australia on Network Ten on October 11, 2015. In

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, the series aired on January 3, 2016 on

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting ''TG2'' news bulletins, tal ...

. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the series aired on February 17, 2016 on Sky One.

Reception

''Limitless'' received mixed reviews from critics. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

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 ...

reports a 57% approval rating with an average rating of 6.39/10 based on 47 reviews. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Even with a likable hero, ''Limitless'' cannot overcome its credulity-straining premise and shaky, hole-riddled narrative." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the series holds an average score of 57 out of 100 based on 30 critics.

Ratings

Notes

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 4422836 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American comic science fiction television series 2010s American crime drama television series 2015 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings American crime comedy television series American thriller television series CBS original programming English-language television shows K/O Paper Products films Live action television shows based on films Smart drugs in fiction Television series about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Television series by CBS Studios Television shows about drugs Television shows set in New York City