Premieres January 21st on Starz, Sundays at 8pm EST
Pilot already available for Starz subcribers
"Counterpart" 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 organization 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 his near-identical counterpart from this parallel world. The show explores themes of identity, fate and lost love, posing the eternal question, "what if our lives could have been different?"
"Counterpart" also features Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, Hyde Park on Hudson, "Manhattan") as 'Emily Burton Silk,' Harry Lloyd (The Theory of Everything, Jane Eyre, "Manhattan") as 'Peter Quayle,' Nicholas Pinnock (Captain America: The First Avenger, "Marcella") as 'Ian Shaw,' Nazanin Boniadi ("Homeland," Ben-Hur, Hotel Mumbai) as 'Clare,' Sara Serraiocco (Salvo, Cloro, Worldly Girl) as 'Baldwin,' and Ulrich Thomsen ("The Blacklist," "Banshee") as 'Aldrich.' Academy Award nominee Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) directed the first episode.
Hollywood Reporter
With J.K. Simmons' outstanding performance, Starz finds a compelling, intriguing winner in the murky espionage series.
...Dense but absorbing, Counterpart is filled with both twists and slow reveals, urging you into commitment. Any time there's a hesitation, there's Simmons, whose outstanding work won't let you pull away, giving Starz and creator Marks a series that could stand out in the TV jungle.
IGN
Starz's Counterpart is the best new series of 2018 so far
...The show is visually impressive too. There are times when Counterpart intentionally slows its pacing and then suddenly launches into a frenetic shootout featuring some great fight choreography that creates a tense atmosphere. You're never really sure what's coming up next. I've seen the first 6 episodes and the story keeps getting more interesting with each passing hour. The writers give you just enough information to whet your appetite. It makes me wish the entire season was available now.
Den of Geek
Take the multiverse of Fringe and add the political intrigue of The Americans (with a sprinkle of Charlie Jade for those who know it), and that'll provide some idea of what Starz' new sci-fi thriller, Counterpart, is all about. The show pits spy versus spy in a cold war between parallel Earths where everyone has a double in the other world, and the ways in which the differences between existences can be exploited are numerous and underhanded in the extreme. Those with patience for a slow initial pace will eventually be rewarded with a rich conspiracy tale about 3 or 4 episodes in, but those looking for immediate action or spoon-fed exposition should look elsewhere.