''Ransom'' is an internationally co-produced drama television series created by

David Vainola David J. Vainola (born 5 October 1961) is a Canadian television and film writer and producer. Early life Vainola was born in Leicester, United Kingdom, and became a Canadian citizen in 1967. Career For the National Film Board of Canada, Vai ...

and produced by Frank Spotnitz, starring

Luke Roberts Luke Justin Roberts (born 25 January 1977) is a sports director and former Australian racing cyclist specialising in both track cycling and road bicycle racing. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he resides both in Adelaide and in Cologn ...

, that began airing on CBS. Ordered straight-to-series with 13 episodes on June 6, 2016, the series is a co-production between Canada's

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 ...

, France's TF1, the United States' CBS, and Germany's RTL, while the latter is airing the series on its sister network VOX. The series premiered on Global and CBS on January 1, 2017. On May 17, 2017, CBS announced that ''Ransom'' was cancelled in the United States. A day later, RTLGroup also reported that they left the project after low ratings in Germany. It was reported on the same day that the other broadcasters behind the series were attempting to fund a second season. In late June, various sources reported that Global and TF1 ordered a second season, to be produced without the former partners. Production was set to start in late July 2017. On October 10, 2017, CBS and Global officially announced that ''Ransom'' had been renewed for a 13-episode second season, which premiered on April 7, 2018 on CBS in the United States. On July 16, 2018, CBS and Global announced that the series has been renewed for a 13-episode third season, which premiered on February 16, 2019. On July 3, 2019, CBS announced that the series had been cancelled after three seasons. ''Ransom'' was the first newly U.S. scripted series that debuted on its Saturday night schedule since ''

The District ''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series which aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. Pr ...

'' cancelled in 2004.

Premise

The series follows Eric Beaumont, an experienced crisis and hostage negotiator, and his team, who solve kidnap and ransom cases involving the most dangerous criminals in the world. The series is inspired by the real life negotiators Laurent Combalbert and Marwan Mery.

Cast

Main

as Eric Beaumont, an experienced crisis and hostage negotiator. He grew up in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where his mother, a surgeon, still lives *

Nazneen Contractor Nazneen Contractor (born August 26, 1982) is a Canadian actress known for her role as Layla Hourani on CBC's '' The Border'', and as Kayla Hassan on '' 24'' in 2010. She also guest-starred in the ''Letterkenny'' International Women’s Day s ...

as Zara Hallam, the team's lead investigator *

Brandon Jay McLaren Brandon Jay McLaren (born October 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor. He made his first screen appearance in the television series ''Just Cause'' (2002). He has been known for his main and supporting roles in shows such as ''Graceland'', '' Power Rang ...

as Oliver Yates, a psychological profiler * Sarah Greene as Maxine Carlson (season 1–2), a crisis and hostage negotiator who acts as Beaumont's

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

. She takes leave from the team during the second season after being forced to use lethal force against a perpetrator to save Oliver. *

Karen LeBlanc Karen LeBlanc is a Canadian film, television and musical theatre actress. Early life LeBlanc grew up in Tottenham, Ontario to family from Nova Scotia. She attended the musical theatre program at Sheridan College. Career Starting with a minor ro ...

as Cynthia Walker (season 2–3), a crisis and hostage negotiator who works with Eric on a case during the second season, and eventually joins the team as Maxine's replacement as Beaumont's new

Recurring

Emma de Caunes Emma de Caunes (born 9 September 1976) is a French actress. Life and career De Caunes was born in Paris on 9 September 1976 as the daughter of actor and director Antoine de Caunes and director and graphic designer Gaëlle Royer. Her paternal gra ...

as Nathalie Denard, Eric's ex-wife and the CEO of an insurance company *

Carlo Rota Carlo Dante Rota (born 17 April 1961) is a British-born Canadian actor. He has appeared in ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'' and as systems analyst Morris O'Brian on the Fox series '' 24''. He also co-starred as Emilio Solano in '' Jane the Vir ...

as Damian Delaine, an enemy from Eric Beaumont's past * Natalie Brown as Kate Barrett (season 3), an FBI agent and Eric's girlfriend * Emmanuel Kabongo as Tyler LeFebure (season 3)

Filming

The first season was filmed in Toronto, Canada and Nice, France. Toronto stood in for locations in North America. Eight episodes were shot in Toronto and five were shot in Nice. The second season began shooting in Toronto and Budapest, Hungary in November 2017, with production expected to finish in May 2018. The third season was filmed in Budapest, Hungary.

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2018)

Season 3 (2019)

Home media

In Australia (Region 4), Via Vision Entertainment will release "The Complete Series" boxset on October 21, 2020.

Reception

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 Wan ...

season 1 has an approval rating of 47% based on reviews from 15 critics. The website's consensus states: "Ransom is a typical network procedural that lacks any originality or excitement."

References

External links

* * {{Frank Spotnitz 2010s American crime drama television series 2010s Canadian crime drama television series 2017 American television series debuts 2017 Canadian television series debuts 2017 German television series debuts 2017 French television series debuts 2019 American television series endings 2019 Canadian television series endings 2019 German television series endings 2019 French television series endings American action television series Canadian action television series German action television series French action television series English-language television shows CBS original programming Global Television Network original programming TF1 original programming VOX (German TV channel) original programming Television series by Corus Entertainment Television series by Entertainment One Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows filmed in France Television shows filmed in Hungary