Counterpart is STARZ’s newest sci-fi series starring J.K. Simmons who will play a character from this world and his almost identical counterpart from a parallel world.
The new series is about a mysterious world hidden beneath the surface of our everyday existence. Howard Silk (J.K. Simmons) is a lowly cog in the bureaucratic machinery of a Berlin-based United Nations spy agency.
When Howard discovers that his organisation safeguards the secret of a crossing into a parallel dimension, he is thrust into a shadow world of intrigue, danger, and double cross… where the only man he can trust is “Prime”, his near-identical counterpart from this parallel world.
When ‘spy’ Howard comes to our earth to stop an assassin named Baldwin and to figure out why she was sent there. Meanwhile, ‘bureaucrat’ Howard wants to keep out of trouble and look after his comatose wife after a hit-and-run. However, his counterpart doesn’t trust his handlers on either earths and this forces him to lean on ‘bureaucrat’ Howard.
Playing some of ‘spy’ Howard’s handlers includes Ulrich Thomsen as Aldrich, the hardened Director of Counterintelligence at Howard’s agency and a strange mix of philosopher and spy; and Harry Lloyd as Peter Quayle, an upper-crust director at Howard’s agency, whose carefully calibrated career slowly begins to unravel as he sinks deeper into the world of espionage and double lives.
The series was originally picked for two seasons by STARZ in 2015, and production on the first season began in Los Angeles in 2016, and wrapped in Berlin earlier this year.
Starring J.K Simmons, Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense), Harry Lloyd (The Theory of Everything), Nicholas Pinnock (Captain America: The First Avenger), Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland), Sara Serraiocco (Salvo), and Ulrich Thomsen (The Blacklist). Academy Award® nominee Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) directed the first episode.
Created, written, and executive produced by Marks (The Jungle Book), the series is executive produced by Marks, Gary Gilbert (La La Land) with Gilbert Films, Jordan Horowitz (La La Land), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), as well as Keith Redmon (The Revenant) and Bard Dorros (Spotlight) with Anonymous Content. Amy Berg also served as Executive Producer on the first season.
The 10 episode series premieres today on STARZ.
