Counterpart (TV series)

## Counterpart

J.K. Simmons Stars in Counterpart

***Counterpart*** is a new Starz Original Series created by Justin Marks. The SciFi/Drama stars J. K. Simmons as Howard Silk, a lowly cog in the bureaucratic machine of the Office of Interchange in Berlin. Howard discovers that the agency is really overseeing The Crossing, a portal into a parallel dimension.

In addition to the cross-dimensional espionage at its core, the show explores the themes of identity, what ifs and lost love.

*Counterpart* appears on CraveTV streaming service in Canada.

## Premise

In 1986, during the Cold War between the United States and the USSR, there was an accident during an experiment in the USSR-controlled area of East Berlin. At the time, The Break caused the universe to split into two identical copies (Dimension One and Dimension Two).

While identical in every way at the moment the Crossing opened, the two sides have diverged significantly in the 30 years since. The point of divergence is referred to as The Break.

The location of the accident, now known simply as "The Crossing," became a nexus point allowing travel between the two dimensions

The Office of Interchange is the name of the bureaucracy that controls access, diplomacy, and espionage between dimensions.

## Episodes

### Season 1

**Episode 1****Episode 2****Episode 3****Episode 4****Episode 5****Episode 6****Episode 7****Episode 8****Episode 9****Episode 10**
### Season 2

**Episode 1****Episode 2****Episode 3****Episode 4****Episode 5****Episode 6**
## Cast

* J. K. Simmons as Howard Silk
* Olivia Williams as Emily Burton Silk
* Harry Lloyd as Peter Quayle
* Nazanin Boniadi as Clare
* Sara Serraiocco as Baldwin
* Ulrich Thomsen as Aldrich
* Nicholas Pinnock as Ian Shaw
* Bernhard Forcher as Andrei
* Stephen Rea as Alexander Pope
* Kenneth Choi as Bob Dwyer
* Nolan Gerard Funk as Oskar Wolfe
* Lotte Verbeek as Helen Moller
* Christiane Paul as Mira
* Guy Burnet as Ambassador Claude Lambert
* Ingo Rademacher as Friedrich
* Jacqueline Antaramian as Ava Fancher
* Jacqueline Bisset as Charlotte Burton
* Liv Lisa Fries as Greta
* Marco Khan as Raash
* Mido Hamada as Cyrus
* Rahul Parikh as Max
* Sarah Bolger as Anna
* Stefan Kapicic as Lieber
* Adeel Akhtar as Kasper

## Production

* Justin Marks - Created by/Writer/EP
* Jordan Horowitz - Writer/EP
* Amy Berg - Writer/EP
* Bard Dorros - EP
* Gary Gilbert - Writer/Producer
* Morten Tyldum - Director/EP
* Jennifer Getzinger - Director
* Stephen Williams - Director
* Maegan Houang - Writer
* Erin Levy - Writer
* Justin Britt-Gibson  - Writer
* Gianna Sobol  - Writer

## Development

Counterpart Creator Justin Marks (*The Jungle Book*) initially wrote his cross-dimensional tale as a spec feature. It landed at MRC (Media Rights Capital) in 2013 and they suggested that Marks develop it into a series. Current Season 2 writer Maegan Houang was a script reader at MRC at the time and says she was one of the first to read it.

Marks tapped longtime friend and producer Jordan Horowitz (*La La Land*) to collaborate and further developed the concept.

Starz picked up the show in spring 2015 and veteran TV producer Amy Berg (*Eureka*, *Person of Interest*) was brought in to help first-time showrunner Marks.[1] with production starting in winter 2016[2].

Marks described the process on The Bitter Script Reader Blog in 2016 -

***"It’s an original, something I was specing as a feature. I had a meeting at MRC (Media Rights Capital) one day and had just been working on this idea. They asked what I was working on, so I told them and they said, 'That should be a TV show. We’ll buy that. Let’s develop it together as a script and we’ll see if we can find interest in it.' We brought it out to the marketplace and got J.K. Simmons and Morten (Tyldum) attached to it right after the Oscars last year."***
Marks along with executive producers Berg and Horowitz, formed a writers' room with Gary Gilbert, Erin Levy, and others long before production began. Berg reports it was the first time in her long career that she's had a full season of scripts in hand before cameras rolled.

Marks described the first season as a 10-hour movie with ten chapters. The first episode is directed by Morten Tyldum (*The Imitation Game*). Jennifer Getzinger (*Mad Men*, *Outlander*) directed three episodes as did Stephen Williams (*Ray Donovan*, *Westworld*)

## Media

### Videos

Counterpart Official Trailer STARZCounterpart Season 2 Official Trailer STARZStarz's Counterpart Is the Best New Series of 2018 So FarCounterpart Critical Acclaim STARZ"Counterpart" interview with the stars and creatorsCounterpart Howard Silk Subordinate STARZCounterpart Howard Prime Operative STARZCounterpart Baldwin Assassin STARZCounterpart Quayle Director STARZCounterpart Clare Soldier STARZ