# The Veil (miniseries)

The Veil is an American thriller television limited series written by Steven Knight, produced by FX Productions, and starring Elisabeth Moss and Yumna Marwan. The series premiered on FX on Hulu on April 30, 2024.

## Premise

A thriller series about a potentially deadly game of truth and lies as two women travel from Istanbul to Paris and London, with one of them possessing a secret that the other needs to expose.

## Cast
### Main

* Elisabeth Moss as Imogen Salter, a veteran MI6 agent with a specialty in undercover work
* Yumna Marwan as Adilah El Idrissi, a French woman suspected of being an ISIS leader planning an attack on the West
* Dali Benssalah as Malik Amar, an agent with French intelligence agency DGSE and Salter's boyfriend
* Josh Charles as Max Peterson, an obnoxious CIA agent collaborating with Amar and Salter
* Thibault de Montalembert as Magritte, Amar's superior at DGSE

### Guest starring

* James Purefoy as Sir Michael Althorp, Imogen's mentor
* Dan Wyllie as Guy, Imogen's United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) contact
* Joana Ribeiro as Sandrina, another associate of Imogen, also at UNICRI
* Haluk Bilginer as Mr. Demir
* Alec Secăreanu as Emir
* Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Johnson
* Nadia Larbioune as Nour
* Keyla and Neyla Bara as Yasmina, Nour's niece
* Phill Langhorne
* Aron von Andrian

## Episodes

| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | "The Camp" | Daina Reid | Steven Knight | April 30, 2024 (2024-04-30) |
| Adilah El Idrissi (Yumna Marwan), first seen at a refugee camp, faces imminent danger due to her alleged ties to ISIS. Imogen Salter (Elisabeth Moss), posing as an NGO worker, forms an unexpected alliance with Adilah, aiming to protect her from a mob seeking revenge. Meanwhile, suspicions arise about Imogen's true motives, leading to tension with her UNICRI contact, Guy (Dan Wyllie). As Imogen and Adilah embark on a perilous journey, their backgrounds and motivations come to light, revealing a complex web of personal and political intrigue. Adilah's identity is questioned by French intelligence, setting the stage for a high-stakes confrontation. |||||
| 2 | "Crossing the Bridge" | Daina Reid | Steven Knight | April 30, 2024 (2024-04-30) |
| At the refugee camp on the Syrian–Turkish border, the U.S. military arrives looking for Adilah. In France, Adilah's daughter gets into some trouble with American intelligence agencies. Imogen and Adilah continue their journey to Istanbul, where Imogen abandons their car and subdues an armed pursuer. They seek help from a man (Haluk Bilginer) to obtain fake passports, while Max Peterson (Josh Charles) informs French intelligence of the Americans' moves. The French and American intelligence agencies are closely monitoring Imogen and Adilah's movements, unsure if Adilah is the real target or an ISIS commander using her identity as a cover. Imogen suspects Adilah may be the wanted terrorist Sabaine Al-Qubaisi. |||||
| 3 | "The Asset" | Daina Reid | Steven Knight | May 7, 2024 (2024-05-07) |
| Imogen and Max are revealed to have a working relationship, collaborating to uncover information about her father's death. Meanwhile, Adilah's part of a larger terrorist plot is brought to light, involving the transport of radioactive material on a ship bound for the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Imogen and Adilah continue their cat-and-mouse game, with Adilah eventually gaining the upper hand on Imogen. She lets her go in return for Imogen's help in Adilah and her daughter's escape. In the episode, Imogen also meets with Malik Amar (Dali Benssalah), who warns her of being followed and traced by the other intelligence agencies, while being worried about her behavior with her alter egos. |||||
| 4 | "Declassified" | Damon Thomas | Steven Knight | May 14, 2024 (2024-05-14) |
| 5 | "Grandfather's House" | Damon Thomas | Steven Knight | May 21, 2024 (2024-05-21) |
| 6 | "The Cottage" | Damon Thomas | Steven Knight | May 28, 2024 (2024-05-28) |

## Production
### Development

The project was announced in August 2022, and marks the fourth series Steven Knight has made with FX Productions. Knight also acts as executive producer. Elisabeth Moss is also executive producer via her Love & Squalor production company for whom Lindsey McManus is also an executive producer. Denise Di Novi and Nina Tassler of PatMa Productions also executive produce.

### Casting

Elisabeth Moss was confirmed in the lead role in August 2022. Moss has stated that developing an authentic British accent and practicing the action and stunt choreography to make her character believable was more challenging than any previous role. She started learning the accent several months before filming began.
In February 2023, Josh Charles, Dali Benssalah, and Yumna Marwan joined the cast. In March 2023, Haluk Bilginer was added to the cast. The cast also includes Alec Secareanu, Thibault de Montalembert, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, James Purefoy, Joana Ribeiro, Phill Langhorne, Dan Wyllie, Aron von Andrian, and Dali Benssalah.

### Filming

Filming took place in Turkey, which wrapped in March 2023. Other filming locations include Paris and London. Filming took place in Kent, England in May 2023, with locations including Canterbury Cathedral. Whilst filming a stunt in Istanbul, Moss fractured a vertebra in her spine.

## Release

The series was shown on Hulu in the United States, premiering on April 30, 2024, with a two episode premiere, Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ under the Star banner internationally.

## Reception
### Viewership

JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, estimated that The Veil was the third most-streamed series in the U.S. from April 29 to May 5. The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which tracks 20 million monthly viewing decisions across all streaming platforms in the U.S., calculated that The Veil was the ninth most-streamed show in the U.S. for the week ending May 29.

### Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 54% approval rating with an average rating of 5.7/10, based on 35 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Elisabeth Moss' dramatic power remains undiminished with another arresting performance, but The Veil's clunky storytelling doesn't live up to its star's chops." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 52 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Aramide Tinubu of Variety praised the series as 'gripping', commending Moss' performance, the action and the pacing. Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times said 'As a spy story, it’s a decent example of its kind, but as a dramatic two-hander, fueled by subtle performances from Moss and Marwan, it’s pretty terrific.' Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone was more mild in his praise, also praising Moss and the action sequences but questioning the balance between spy thriller and psychological drama. Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter complimented the opening and Moss, but felt that ' The Veil first becomes perfunctory — Homeland-lite — before fizzling entirely in its concluding episodes, in which almost none of its twisty reveals hits deeply on either a plot or character level.' Benjamin Lee of The Guardian awarded the first episode one star out of five, dubbing it 'a bafflingly bad time-waster' and criticizing the plot and acting. Saloni Gajjar of The A.V. Club was also harsh, dubbing the series 'boring and aimless'.