Starz Gives Counterpart The Axe

Starz gives Counterpart the axe

Despite two highly acclaimed seasons for the premium cable network, the sci-fi espionage thriller Counterpart will not be getting a third season from Starz, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Creator Justin Marks took to Twitter this morning to announce the news of the show’s demise.

Hey #counterpart fans, a bit of sad news… Starz has decided not to pick up our show for a 3rd season…

— Justin Marks (@Justin_Marks_) February 11, 2019

“It’s been an absolute dream for this team … we got to make exactly the show we wanted to … perfect cast, perfect crew on two continents … and we’re so grateful to our network for the time we had,” Marks wrote. “Thank you to everyone who made this journey so special for us. Your tweets, podcasts and intricate conspiracy theories have made it all worthwhile. Fingers crossed that our wonderful studio, MRC, can find a way to keep the dream alive!”

Though Starz chose not to move forward with the series, which was unfortunately only garnering roughly 500,000 viewers per episode for the network, Media Rights Capital has begun shopping the series to other networks in the hopes of continuing the critically-lauded story.

“Justin, Jordan, J.K. and the entire cast and crew delivered a beautifully executed series. It was a pleasure working with this team on two seasons of expert storytelling brought to life by best-in-class performances across the board,” Carmi Zlotnik, president of programming at Starz, said.

Season two of the critically-acclaimed Starz Original series “Counterpart” began production in Berlin in February. The 10-episode second season of the one-hour scripted drama is from creator Justin Marks, Gilbert Films, and Anonymous Content, with MRC serving as the studio for the series.

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?”

Created, written and executive produced by Justin Marks (The Jungle Book), Counterpart Season 2 is also executive produced by Gary Gilbert (La La Land), Jordan Horowitz (La La Land), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), and Keith Redmon (The Revenant), and Bard Dorros (Spotlight) with Anonymous Content. MRC serves as the studio for the series.

The season two, and potentially series, finale will air on February 17 on Starz.