''StartUp'' is an American

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

series created by

Ben Ketai Ben Ketai is an American film director, writer, and producer. He directed and wrote the following Ghost House Pictures productions: '' 30 Days of Night: Dark Days'' and the webseries '' 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust''. Career In 2010, the S ...

that premiered on September 6, 2016, on

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snac ...

. The series stars

Adam Brody Adam Jared Brody (born December 15, 1979) is an American actor, writer, musician, and producer. He is known for his breakthrough role as Seth Cohen on the Fox television series ''The O.C.'', which premiered in 2003. Subsequently, Brody appeared ...

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most no ...

Edi Gathegi Edi Mūe Gathegi (born March 10, 1979) is a Kenyan-American actor. He appeared as recurring character Dr. Jeffrey Cole (aka "Big Love") in the television series '' House'', as Cheese in the 2007 film ''Gone Baby Gone'', Laurent in the films ''Twi ...

Otmara Marrero Otmara Marrero is an American actress. She is known for the NBC series '' Connecting...'', 2019's ''Clementine'', and Crackle's 2016 series '' StartUp''. Early life Marrero was born in Miami, Florida, to a Cuban American family, and raised in H ...

Ron Perlman Ronald Perlman (born April 13, 1950) is an American actor. His credits include the roles of Amoukar in ''Quest for Fire'' (1981), Salvatore in ''The Name of the Rose'' (1986), Vincent in the television series ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1987–199 ...

Mira Sorvino Mira Katherine Sorvino (; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's ''Mighty Aphrodite'' (1995). She also starred in the films ...

and

Addison Timlin Addison Jayne Timlin (born June 29, 1991) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jami Lerner in ''The Town That Dreaded Sundown'' (2014) and Colleen Lunsford in '' Little Sister'' (2016). She is also known for playing Sasha Bingham i ...

. On November 15, 2017, the series was renewed for a third season which was released on November 1, 2018. The show was not renewed for a fourth season and, while never officially canceled, it is generally assumed to have ended.

Premise

''StartUp'' follows "the emergence of GenCoin, a brilliant yet controversial tech idea centered on

digital currency Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

—an idea that gets incubated on the wrong side of the tracks by three strangers who do not necessarily fit the mold of tech

entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and a crooked

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

agent who will go to any lengths to take them down."

Cast and characters

Main

as Nick Talman *

as Ronald Dacey *

as Izzy Morales *

as Phil Rask aka "Rasky Boy" (seasons 1–2) *

as Wes Chandler (seasons 2–3) *

as Mara Chandler (season 3; recurring season 2), Wes' daughter. *

as Rebecca Stroud (season 3), an

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

agent who has come to investigate ArakNet, and will do whatever it takes to have ArakNet partner with the government.

Recurring

Ashley Hinshaw Ashley Grace (née Hinshaw; born December 11, 1988) is an American actress and model. She is known for her leading role in the 2012 film ''About Cherry'', and for her role in the 2016 Crackle television series '' StartUp''. Early life Ashley ...

as Taylor (season 1) *

Tony Plana José Antonio Plana (born April 19, 1952) is a Cuban actor and director. He is known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC television show ''Ugly Betty'' and for voicing Manuel "Manny" Calavera in the video game ''Grim ...

as Mr. Morales, Izzy's father * Jared Wofford as Frantz (seasons 1-3), Big Ronnie's second in command *

Jenny Gago Jenny Gago (born September 11, 1953) is a Peruvian-American actress best known as Maria in ''Knots Landing'' (1984-1986), Maria in ''My Family'' (1995), Anaya in '' The Agency'' (2002-2003), and Det. Ochoa in ''Southland'' (2011). Life Gago w ...

as Marta Morales (seasons 1–2), Izzy's mother * Kristen Ariza as Tamara Dacey, Ronald's wife *

Kelvin Harrison Jr. Kelvin Harrison Jr. (born July 23, 1994) is an American actor. He is the recipient of such accolades as a Screen Actors Guild Award and nominations for a British Academy Film Award, Gotham Award, an Independent Spirit Award. He began his caree ...

as Touie Dacey (seasons 1–2), Ronald's son *

Kamahl Naiqui Kandiah Kamalesvaran ( ta, கந்தையா கமலேஸ்வரன்; born 13 November 1934), better known by his stage name Kamahl, is a Malaysian-born Australian singer and recording artist. His highest charting Australian single, ...

as Oskar (season 1) JJ's second in command and Touie's main influence * Génesis Castro Díaz as Elsie Dacey, Ronald's daughter *

Jocelin Donahue Jocelin Donahue (born November 8, 1981) is an American actress. She played the lead role in Ti West's critically acclaimed horror film ''The House of the Devil'', winning Best Actress at the 2009 LA Screamfest, and young version of Barbara Hershe ...

as Maddie Pierce (season 1) *

Wayne Knight Wayne Elliot Knight (born August 7, 1955) is an American actor. In television, he played Newman on '' Seinfeld'' (1992–1998) and Officer Don Orville on '' 3rd Rock from the Sun'' (1996–2001). He also voiced Igor on ''Toonsylvania'' (199 ...

as Benny Blush (season 1) *

Aaron Yoo Aaron Yoo (born May 12, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for appearing in the films '' Disturbia'' (2007), '' 21'' (2008), and ''Friday the 13th'' (2009), as well as playing Russell Kwon in the sci-fi series ''The Tomorrow People'' ( ...

as Alex Bell (seasons 1–2) * Vera Cherny as Vera (seasons 1–2) *

Joshua Leonard Joshua Granville Leonard (born June 17, 1975) is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his role in ''The Blair Witch Project'' (1999). He has since starred in films such as '' Madhouse'' (2004), '' The Shaggy Dog'' (2006), '' Higher G ...

as Rance (season 2) * Reina Hardesty as Stella Namura (seasons 2–3) *

Tyler Labine Tyler Sean Labine (born April 29, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He is best known for starring in the television series ''Breaker High'', ''Invasion'', ''Reaper'', '' Deadbeat'' and as Dr. Iggy Frome, head of psychiatry, in the N ...

as Martin Saginaw (season 3) *

Zachary Knighton Zachary Andrew Knighton (born October 25, 1978) is an American actor, most widely known for starring as Dave Rose on the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings''. Prior to that, he co-starred as Dr. Bryce Varley on ABC's science fiction series '' Fla ...

as Tucker Saginaw (season 3) * Allison Dunbar as Kelly (season 3), Wes' longtime friend and trusted lawyer. * Michael McKiddy as Nico Wexler (seasons 1–2)

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017)

Season 3 (2018)

Production

Development

On January 27, 2016,

announced it had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. It was reported that executive producers were set to include Ben Ketai, Tom Forman, Andrew Marcus, Ray Ricord, Gianni Nunnari, and Shannon Gaulding. Ketai was also expected to serve as a writer and director on the series. Producers were announced to include Adam Brody and Anne Clements. Production companies involved with the series include Critical Content and Hollywood Gang Productions. On January 13, 2017, Crackle announced that they had renewed the series for a second season. On November 15, 2017, Crackle officially renewed the series for a third season. On August 27, 2018, it was announced the third season would premiere on November 1, 2018.

Casting

Simultaneously alongside the initial series order announcement, it was confirmed that the series would star Martin Freeman, Adam Brody, Edi Gathegi, and Otmara Marrero. That same day, it was reported that

had been cast in a recurring role. On March 17, 2016, Ashley Hinshaw joined the show in a starring role. On April 19, 2017, it was announced that

and

had joined the series' main cast. On January 14, 2018, it was reported that

would appear in the third season in a guest starring role. On February 7, 2018, it was announced that Allison Dunbar joined the series in recurring role. The show was cast by Bonnie Wu, Dylann Brander, Erica Johnson and Aaron Griffith.

Filming

Principal photography for season one began during the week of January 25, 2016, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Release

Marketing

On July 27, 2016, Crackle released the first official trailer for the series. On August 7, 2017, Crackle released a trailer for the second season. On August 7, 2018, Crackle released a trailer for the third season. The series began streaming on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on May 4, 2021. Since being released on Netflix, the show earned a place in the Netflix Top 10. This generated buzz about whether or not there would be a season four, with speculation that Netflix could potentially pick it up in order to film the next season.

Premiere

On September 21, 2018, the series held the world premiere of its third season during the second annual Tribeca TV Festival in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Following a screening, a conversation was held featuring members of the cast and crew including director

and actors

, and Otmara Marrero.

Reception

The series received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregation 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 ...

, season 1 of ''StartUp'' holds an average approval rating of 36% based on reviews from 14 critics. The website's critical consensus reads, "''StartUp'' is a LetDown."

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 uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 52 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Crackle original programming 2010s American drama television series 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2016 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings Bisexuality-related television series Crackle (streaming service) original programming English-language television shows Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Miami Television shows filmed in Puerto Rico