The Netflix streaming series Altered Carbon will debut online on February 2.
Based on the novel by Richard K. Morgan, the series is set more than 300 years in the future where society has been transformed by new technology. A person’s consciousness can be digitized; human bodies are interchangeable; death is no longer permanent. Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman from The Killing and Suicide Squad) is the lone surviving soldier in a group of elite interstellar warriors who were defeated in an uprising against the new world order. His mind was imprisoned – on ice – for centuries until Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy from The Following), an impossibly wealthy, long-lived man, offers Kovacs the chance to live again. In exchange, Kovacs has to solve a murder that of Bancroft himself.
The ensemble cast includes Ato Essandoh (Copper), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Dollhouse), Kristin Lehman (Motive) and Tamara Taylor (Bones) [among others].
TV viewers were introduced to actress Stana Katic back in March of 2009 when she starred as NYPD Detective Kate Beckett alongside actor Nathan Fillion in the ABC drama Castle, which went on to become not only a fan favorite but also a long-running series for the network.
Katic will be returning to the small screen this Friday in the dark and gripping new series Absentia, where she will portraying FBI agent Emily Byrne, who disappeared without a trace while hunting one of Boston’s most notorious serial killers, and is declared dead. Six years later, though, Emily is discovered held in captivity, with little memory of who kidnapped and tortured her.
Emily is reunited with her family, which includes her retired cop father Warren (Paul Freeman from Raiders of the Lost Ark) and her brother Jack (Neil Jackson from Sleepy Hollow) as well as her husband Special Agent Nick Durand (Patrick Heusinger from Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce and Royal Pains).
She also learns that her young son Flynn (Patrick McAuley from The Conjuring 2) – now a 9-year-old – is being raised by Nick and his…wait for it…new wife Alice (Cara Theobold from Downton Abbey) [Emily was pronounced dead in absentia years before, remember!].
Emily tries to unravel the mystery behind her abduction while reconnecting with her family, but at lot has happened since her disappearance six years earlier. Worse yet, she becomes a suspect herself in a string of new murders that are similar in nature to the serial killer she was investigating before her disappearance.
Without giving too much away, Emily struggles with flashbacks to the torment she dealt with by her kidnapper – some scenes are fragmented but very hard to watch given she was tortured and held captive in a water tank; she has to deal with a troubled brother with his own set of problems; a husband who moved on with a new wife and a son who doesn’t see her as his mother. And, the man convicted of being the serial killer she was investigating, gets out of prison because she was found alive.
Needless to say, this is a much different character for Katic to be playing, but one that she pulls off very convincingly. The storyline is obviously much darker than that of nearly all of the episodes of the 8-season-long Castle but pulls you in wondering whether there is more to Emily than meets the eye, who was behind her horrible six-year captivity and who is really a villain or victim.
The rest of the cast includes Angel Bonanni (Shots Fired) as Boston Police Detective Tommy Gibbs, who is in charge of Emily’s case; Ralph Ineson (Game of Thrones) as Special Agent Adam Radford, Nick and Emily’s boss; Bruno Bichir (Narcos) as Dr. Daniel Vega, an FBI psychologist and profiler and Richard Brake (Ray Donovan) as Conrad Harlow, the prime suspect in the serial killer case.
Here is the trailer for Absenita:
You can learn more about the series Absentia at the show’s website and make sure to watch all 10 episodes of Absentia on Amazon Prime when it debuts on Friday, February 2.
The Lifetime original movie Faith Under Fire: The Antoinette Tuff Story will debut on January 27 at 8 PM.
Singer-actress Toni Braxton stars as the title character, a struggling single mom from Georgia who heroically averted a tragedy, saving hundreds of lives when she convinced a deranged gunman who stormed an elementary school to surrender.
The cast includes Malik Yoba, Trevor Morgan, Shalaby Omar and Yaya DaCosta.
On January 27, the new Hallmark Channel movie Winter’s Dream will debut at 9 PM.
A former ski champion reenters the competitive world when a 16-year old downhill racer asks for help, leading her to reawaken an old passion and find a new love.
On January 24, the 6-part mini-series Waco will debut on the Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV) at 10 PM.
The mini-series is based on the controversial and harrowing true story of the 1993 standoff between the FBI, ATF and David Koresh’s [to be played by Friday Night Lights alum Taylor Kitsch] spiritual sect in Waco, TX that resulted in a deadly shootout and fire.
The ensemble cast includes Camyrn Manheim, John Leguizamo, Michael Shannon, Steven Culp, Melissa Benoist, Rory Culkin and Andrea Riseborough [among others.]
The new WGN America drama Bellevue will debut on January 23 at 10 PM.
The show is set against the backdrop of a small town with big secrets. Twenty years ago, the murder of a young woman traumatized the community of Bellevue. Now, the killer is back. When a high school hockey star, who is wrestling with his gender identity, goes missing and all signs point to foul play, Detective Annie Ryder (Anna Paquin from True Blood) must unravel all the pieces to this gripping mystery before her own life falls apart.
The cast includes Allen Leech (Downton Abbey) and Shawn Doyle (The Expanse and Frontier).
On January 22, the new TNT period piece drama The Alienist will debut at 9 PM.
The series will focus on criminal psychologist (aka alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl) and newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans), who are called in to conduct the investigation the gruesome murders of boy prostitutes in New York City. They are joined by Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning), a headstrong secretary determined to become the city’s first female police detective.
The cast includes Q’orianka Kilcher, Robert Wisdom and Douglas Smith [among others].
The 6-part limited series Mosaic will debut on January 22 at 8 PM on HBO.
Set against the backdrop of a mountain resort town, the limited series follows popular children’s book author and illustrator Olivia Lake (Sharon Stone), whose literary success makes her a local celebrity in the tight-knit community. But when Olivia disappears on New Year’s Day, leaving behind a blood-soaked studio, MOSAIC becomes an intricate whodunit, and it is up to detective Nate Henry (Devin Ratray) and Eric’s sister, Petra (Jennifer Ferrin), to unravel the mystery.
The cast includes Garrett Hedlund, Frederick Weller, Beau Bridges and Paul Reubens.
On January 21, the new FOX drama The Resident will debut at 10 PM [after the NFC Championship game].
The new medical series will focus on the final years of a young doctor’s training that rips back the curtain to reveal the truth of what really happens, both good and bad, in hospitals across the country.
The series stars Matt Czuchry (The Good Wife), Emily VanCamp (Revenge), Manish Dayal (Halt and Catch Fire), Merrin Dungey (Alias and Big Little Lies), Melina Kanakaredes (CSI: NY and Providence) and Bruce Greenwood.
NOTE: The show will move to its regular timeslot of 9 PM on January 22.
The series premiere of Counterpart will debut on Starz on January 21 at 8 PM.
The show is about the 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 cast includes Olivia Williams, Jacqueline Bisset, Richard Schiff, Stephen Rea, Ingo Rademacher, Kenneth Choi and Sarah Bolger.
Rueben's Ramblings 