There’s a new sci-fi espionage thriller called Counterpart coming to Starz in the US, and it’s sounding a little bit Fringe-like…
JK Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-man, and now Commissioner Gordon for DC), plays Howard Silk, a low level bureaucrat at a seemingly innocuous UN agency. He’s trudging through his latter years of a life filled with regret, that is until he discovers the agency is hiding a secret… It’s protecting a gateway to a parallel universe.
Simmons was cast in the show over a year ago, but then things went very quiet. Now Olivia Williams (Manhattan, Dollhouse) and Harry Lloyd (Doctor Who, Manhattan, and Game of Thrones’ Viserys Targaryen… boo hiss) have joined the cast, and things seem to be moving again!
Williams is set to portray wife of Howard, Emily Burton Silk, a key role and a woman with many secrets that drive the plot of the first season. Lloyd is playing Peter Quayle, a director at the agency whose world starts to unravel as a life of espionage take it’s toll.
The show is being written by Justin Marks, whose other work includes the screenplay for Jon Favreau’s Jungle Book, and the upcoming Jungle Book 2. The Imitation Game’s Morten Tyldum is set to direct the first episode.
As Counterpart has only just started gearing up for production, there’s no news on an air date yet. It has however been picked up by Starz for 2 seasons of 10 episodes each already, so they clearly have some confidence in it!