Counterpart (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 31, 2018, in region 1, including two behind-the-scenes featurettes.
• The second season was released on DVD only on July 23, 2019.

Premise

Howard Silk works for the Office of Interchange, a Berlin-based United Nations agency, exchanging seemingly meaningless messages for thirty years without knowing their purpose. The OI oversees a checkpoint to a parallel Earth, created in 1987 during an East German experiment. The two worlds, Alpha and Prime, began diverging after a flu pandemic in 1996 killed hundreds of millions on Prime, setting back its technology but advancing its life sciences. Suspicions that Alpha released the virus led to a cold war, with counterparts used as spies. Howard Silk Prime is a ruthless operative, and a rogue faction on Prime plots revenge against Alpha.

Production

The series was ordered in April 2015 with J. K. Simmons attached to star. Production started in December 2016 in Los Angeles, with additional filming in Berlin and at Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam, which co-produced. Amy Berg served as showrunner for the first season but departed before season two, implying conflicts with creator Justin Marks over control. Production on the second season began in February 2018 in Berlin. After Starz canceled the series, Media Rights Capital sought another home unsuccessfully. Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch cited a shift toward a premium female strategy as a factor.

Reception

The first season received a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 49 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4 out of 10. Metacritic gave it a score of 76 out of 100 based on 15 critics. The second season also scored 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from 23 reviews, averaging 8 out of 10, and a Metacritic score of 75 out of 100 from seven critics. Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone found the second season too convoluted and difficult to follow.