''The Player'' (formerly known as ''Endgame'') is an American

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

thriller

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 ...

television series created by John Rogers and John Fox, starring

Philip Winchester Philip Charles Winchester (born March 24, 1981) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' The Patriot'', ''The Hi-Line'', '' LD 50 Lethal Dose'', '' Thunderbirds'', ''CSI: Miami'', ''King Lear'', '' Strike Back'', '' Flyboys'', ''In M ...

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. His prominent film roles include '' Major League'' (1989), ''New Jack City'' (1991), ''White Men Can't Jump'' (1992), ''Passenger 57'' (1992), '' R ...

and Charity Wakefield.

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

ordered the pilot to series on May 8, 2015, and the show aired from September 24, to November 19, 2015 for one season. Because of low ratings, the count of episodes was reduced to nine (thirteen had originally been ordered), with the production wrapping up after shooting the ninth episode. Before that, Sony sold the series' airing rights to 105 international territories.

Premise

The life of Alex Kane (Phillip Winchester), a security expert in Las Vegas, is turned upside down during an evening with his ex-wife Ginny, as she is killed by unknown assailants. Eager to track down Ginny's murderers, Kane runs into a high-stakes gambling operation run by Isaiah Johnson (Wesley Snipes), the "Pit Boss", and Cassandra King (Charity Wakefield), the "Dealer". Johnson and King organize betting on crimes, pitting a "Player" against criminals. King helps the Player with almost unlimited resources as the punters bet on who will gain the upper hand over a limited timeframe. Kane is recruited as the organization's latest Player.

Cast

Main

as Alex Kane, "The Player" * Charity Wakefield as Cassandra King, the

dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

Damon Gupton Damon Jamal Gupton (born January 4, 1973) is an American actor and orchestral conductor, best known for his series regular roles as Charles Foster on ''Deadline'', Evrard Velerio on ''Prime Suspect'', Adam Page on '' The Divide'', Detective Cal ...

as Detective Cal Brown,

Las Vegas Police Department The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (also known as the LVMPD or Metro) is a combined city and county law enforcement agency for the City of Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is headed by the Sheriff of Clark County, w ...

as Mr. Isaiah Johnson, the

pit boss ''Pit Boss'' is an American television series docudrama that follows Shorty Rossi, owner of Shorty's Rescue, an organization set up for Pit Bull rescue. The series aired on Animal Planet from January 16, 2010 to March 30, 2013. Series overview S ...

Recurring

* Daisy Betts as Virginia "Ginny" Lee, Alex's ex-wife *

Nick Wechsler Nick Wechsler may also refer to: * Nick Wechsler (actor) (born 1978), American actor * Nick Wechsler (film producer) (born 1949), American film producer {{Hndis, Wechsler, Nick ...

as Nick, Cassandra's boyfriend *

Richard Roundtree Richard Roundtree (born July 9, 1942) is an American actor. Roundtree is noted as being "the first black action hero" for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film '' Shaft'', and its four sequels, released between 1972 and 2 ...

as Judge Samuel Letts *

KaDee Strickland Katherine Dee Strickland (born December 14, 1975) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Charlotte King on the ABC drama '' Private Practice'' (2007–2013). Strickland began acting during high school. She studied acting in ...

as Special Agent Rose Nolan * Courtney Grosbeck as Dani, Alex's niece

Broadcast

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the series premiered on October 7, 2015 on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. In

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, the series premiered on December 7, 2015 on the

AXN AXN is a pay television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television, which was first launched in September 1997 in Asia. Local versions have since been launched in several parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Funded th ...

. 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the series premiered on October 21, 2016 on

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

. In

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, the series premiered on March 1, 2019 on

Azteca 7 Azteca 7 (also called El Siete) is a Mexican network owned by TV Azteca, with more than 100 main transmitters all over Mexico. Azteca 7 is available on all cable and satellite systems. A substantial portion of their purchased programming include ...

Episodes

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 Wang ...

assessed the series' approval rating at 38%, with an average rating of 4.1/10, sampled from 45 reviews. Their critic consensus states: "''The Player''s convoluted premise weighs down a game cast, bringing nothing original to the table". 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 ...

, it holds a 43 out of 100, based on 25 critics' reviews, signifying "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Player (2015 TV series), The 2010s American crime drama television series 2015 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings American action television series American English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in the Las Vegas Valley Fictional portrayals of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Crime thriller television series Vigilante television series Television shows about gambling NBC television dramas