''Timeless'' is an American science fiction television series that premiered on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

on October 3, 2016. It stars

Abigail Spencer Abigail Leigh Spencer (born August 4, 1981) is an American actress. She began her career playing Rebecca Tyree on the ABC daytime television soap opera ''All My Children'' (1999–2001) before going on to star in the Lifetime crime drama series, ...

, Matt Lanter, and Malcolm Barrett as a team that attempts to stop a mysterious organization from changing the course of history through

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

. The series was created by Shawn Ryan and

Eric Kripke Eric Kripke (born 1974) is an American writer and television producer. He came to prominence as the creator of the fantasy drama series ''Supernatural'' (2005–2020) which aired on The CW. He served as the showrunner during the first five seasons ...

, and also stars

Sakina Jaffrey Sakina Jaffrey (born February 14, 1962) is an American actress. Early life Jaffrey was born in New York City, the youngest daughter of Indian-born parents, actress and food and travel writer Madhur Jaffrey, and actor Saeed Jaffrey. Her parent ...

Paterson Joseph Paterson D. Joseph (born 22 June 1964) is a British actor. He appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of ''King Lear'' and ''Love's Labour's Lost'' in 1990. On television he is best known for his roles in ''Casualty (TV series), Cas ...

Claudia Doumit Claudia Doumit is an Australian actress. She portrayed Jiya Marri in the NBC series ''Timeless'' and is best known for her portrayal of Farah Karim from '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'' and Victoria Neuman from the Amazon Prime Video original s ...

, and Goran Višnjić. The executive producers include John Davis and John Fox of ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily s ...

''. Although NBC canceled the series after one season, the series was renewed three days later following negotiations with

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainme ...

. The ten-episode second season premiered on March 11, 2018, and ran until NBC canceled the series again in June 2018. One month later, NBC ordered a two-part finale to conclude the series, which aired on December 20, 2018.

Premise

When ex-

National Security Agency 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 ...

asset turned criminal Garcia Flynn and his group of criminals steal an experimental time machine, Lucy Preston, a history professor, Wyatt Logan, a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

Master Sergeant and soldier, and Rufus Carlin, an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

and

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

, are tasked with capturing Flynn. They soon learn that Flynn plans to rewrite history and that each of them has a connection to his plan as well as the mysterious organization known as Rittenhouse that funded the machine's development.

Cast and characters

Main

as Lucy Preston, a history professor and leader of the "Lifeboat" team * Matt Lanter as Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan, a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

operative and soldier of the "Lifeboat" team * Malcolm Barrett as Rufus Carlin, a programmer and pilot of the "Lifeboat" team *

as Connor Mason, head of Mason Industries, creator of the "Lifeboat" and "Mothership" time machines *

as Denise Christopher, the

Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

in charge of the "Lifeboat" team *

as Jiya Marri, a talented young programmer at Mason Industries. * Goran Višnjić as Garcia Flynn, a former

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, collec ...

asset whom the team chases when he steals the "Mothership"; he later joins the "Lifeboat" team to stop Rittenhouse.

Recurring

* Matt Frewer as Anthony Bruhl (season 1), time travel project leader at Mason Industries *

Susanna Thompson Susanna Thompson (born January 27, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films '' Little Giants'' (1994), '' Ghosts of Mississippi'' (1996), ''Random Hearts'' (1999) and ''Dragonfly'' (2002). On television, Thompson played Dr ...

as Carol Preston, Lucy's mother and a Rittenhouse member * John Getz as Benjamin Cahill, Rittenhouse agent and Lucy's biological father * Chad Rook as Karl (season 1), Flynn's

henchman A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies pri ...

Annie Wersching Annie Wersching (March 28, 1977 – January 29, 2023) was an American actress. She was known for her television roles as Renee Walker in '' 24'', Julia Brasher in '' Bosch'', and Emma Whitmore in '' Timeless'', as well as the voice and performan ...

as Emma Whitmore, former Mason Industries employee and Rittenhouse member * Michael Rady as Nicholas Keynes (season 2), Rittenhouse leader from 1918 * Tonya Glanz as Jessica Logan (season 2), Wyatt's wife

Episodes

Season 1 (2016–17)

Season 2 (2018)

Finale (2018)

Production

Development

Long considered one of NBC's hot pilots, it was ordered to series on May 13, 2016, after lengthy negotiations to obtain the series' "in-season stacking rights", which allow a network to stream all episodes of a series' current season via all the network's online platforms. On November 1, 2016, NBC ordered three additional episodes, increasing the first season order to 16. The season concluded on February 20, 2017.

Cancellation and reprieve

On May 10, 2017, NBC cancelled the series after one season. Three days later, following negotiations with

, NBC renewed the series for a ten-episode second season, which premiered on March 11, 2018. On June 22, 2018, NBC announced that the series had once again been cancelled, although the production of a possible two-hour movie finale to properly conclude the series was being discussed. On July 31, 2018, NBC announced it had ordered a two-part finale to properly conclude the series, which aired on December 20, 2018.

Lawsuit over concept

Ryan, Kripke,

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

and

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primar ...

were sued by Onza Entertainment for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

and

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

, claiming that the concept for ''Timeless'' was based on the Spanish series ' (''The Ministry of Time''), which follows the adventures of a three-person team made up of two men and a woman who travel to the past with a view to preserving past events. In April 2015, Javier Olivares, one of the creators of ''El Ministerio del Tiempo'', met with representatives of Gersh in the MIPTV audiovisual fair of

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

. There, they discussed the possibility of developing an American version of the show. Gersh would later ask for a DVD copy of the first episode of the Spanish show, with English subtitles. Onza Partners, the Spanish

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

, gave that DVD to the Gersh Agency in the hopes of working with them. Roy Ashton, from the Gersh Agency, wrote to Onza letting them know that they liked ''El Ministerio del Tiempo'' and wanted to work with them. Ashton also mentioned

and

Ben Edlund Ben Edlund (born September 20, 1968) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, television producer, and television director. He is best known as the creator of the satirical superhero character The Tick. Background Edlund was born and raised in ...

as possible show runners. In August 2015, Deadline reported that

had bought a project called ''Time'', created by Kripke and Shawn Ryan. At the same time, all negotiations regarding the American version of ''El Ministerio del Tiempo'' were dropped. That project went on to become ''Timeless,'' with its pilot episode airing in January 2016. The defendants responded to the suit in a November 23, 2016 filing, contending that shows about time travel are an established television genre, and that similarities between the two shows are generic, and largely based on the notion that the main characters will travel in time to effect some kind of change. A request to dismiss Onza's lawsuit by Sony was denied on February 15, 2017, but the two parties ultimately came to an agreement and jointly moved to dismiss.

Release

Season 1 aired on NBC in the U.S. and 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 Canada on Monday nights at 10 p.m. Eastern and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

(9 p.m.

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

). Season 2 aired on NBC and Global on Sunday nights at 10 pm. EST/PST. (9 p.m. CST). Episodes can also be streamed online through NBC and Global's respective websites, as well as 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 ...

in some countries. Episodes can also be streamed on Hulu in the United States. Starting from December 14, 2016, it aired in the UK on E4 every Wednesday at 9:00 pm. UK time. The series also aired in Japan on

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 ...

Reception

Critical response

The first season of ''Timeless'' received generally positive reviews from television critics. 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 Wan ...

gives the first season an approval rating of 83%, with an average rating of 6.39 out of 10 based on reviews by forty critics. The site's critical consensus states, "''Timeless'' is a fun throwback action series with a kooky premise worth watching, even if it is delivered clumsily at times." The second season fared significantly better, receiving a 100% rating, with an average rating of 8.43 based on fourteen reviews.

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 ...

, which uses a normalized rating, gave the first season a score of 65 out of 100, based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". A 90% approval rating for the finale was reported by Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.83/10 based on 10 reviews, and a critical consensus reading, "A fitting farewell, ''Timeless'' wraps with a fun, festive finale that ties up loose ends and provides enough fan service to satisfy."

Ratings

Season 1

Season 2

Finale

Awards and nominations

Home media

References

External links

* * {{Eric Kripke 2010s American drama television series 2010s American science fiction television series 2010s American time travel television series 2016 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings American action adventure television series American fantasy television series American television series revived after cancellation NBC original programming Television series about the history of the United States Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Universal Television Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television shows set in San Francisco Television shows involved in plagiarism controversies Television series created by Eric Kripke American fantasy drama television series American alternate history works