Oscar-Winner J.K. Simmons Will Star in a New Sci-Fi Drama at Starz

Fresh off his Oscar win for Whiplash, J.K. Simmons has landed a lead role in the new Starz drama Counterpart, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

The series is described as an espionage thriller with a metaphysical twist that centers on Simmons' character Harold Silk, a lowly cog in a bureaucratic UN agency. According to the series' logline, Silk is "turning the last corner of a life filled with regret when he discovers that the agency he works for is guarding a secret: a crossing to a parallel dimension."

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Counterpart is created and written by Justin Marks, the writer of Disney's upcoming live-action Jungle Book film. The Imitation Game's Morten Tyldum is set to direct the first two episodes.

Deadline first reported Simmons' casting.

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