Berlin Station: EPIX Begins Production on Original Spy Series

The spies are coming. Today, EPIX announced its original series Berlin Station has begun production.

The spy drama stars Richard Armitage, Rhys Ifans, Richard Jenkins, and Michelle Forbes.

Berlin Station centers on Daniel Miller (Armitage), a new CIA officer assigned Berlin to find a leak within the organization.

The series comes from spy novelist Olen Steinhauer, and The Americans writer Bradford Winters will serve as showrunner.

Here’s the official announcement:

NEW YORK — Premium TV network EPIX(R) announced today that production has started on Berlin Station, the 10-part contemporary spy series produced by Paramount TV and Anonymous Content. Shooting will take place in Berlin and the series will premiere on EPIX in the fall of 2016.

Previously announced cast includes: Richard Armitage as Daniel Miller, the cerebral, newly-anointed CIA officer who goes from being an analyst at Langley to an undercover officer in Berlin tasked with finding a leak. In addition, Emmy(R) Award nominee Michelle Forbes (“The Killing,” “True Blood,” The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2) plays Valerie Edwards, the no-nonsense administrator who serves as a Berlin Station Internal Branch Chief; Emmy Award(R) winner and Academy Award(R) nominee Richard Jenkins (“Olive Kitteridge,” The Visitor) as Steven Frost, a veteran of the Cold War who serves as the CIA’s Berlin Chief of Station; BAFTA Award-winner Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1, “Elementary,” Notting Hill) as dark, charming and tenacious Case Officer Hector DeJean, an old friend of Miller.

New cast joining Berlin Station’s ensemble includes: Tamlyn Tomita (“Resurrection,” The Day After Tomorrow) as Sandra Abe, a quiet presence lording over the efficient operation of Berlin Station while having an affair with her boss, Steven Frost; Leland Orser (“Ray Donovan”) as Robert Kirsch, a devoted and successful Deputy Chief who digs intelligence out of the capital through a mix of force, diligence and cleverness; Richard Dillane (“Wolf Hall,” The Dark Knight) as Deputy Liaison Gerald Ellman, a gentle, reserved man who plans his transfer to Budapest, but finds himself in a position of being collateral damage; and Bernhard Schütz (A Most Wanted Man) as Hans Richter, an old-world spy who has risen, against all odds, to the highest ranks of the BfV.

Michaël Roskam (Bullhead, The Drop) is an executive producer on the straight-to-series order and is directing the first two episodes. New York Times best-selling spy novelist Olen Steinhauer (The Tourist, All The Old Knives, The Cairo Affair) created the series and is also an executive producer. Bradford Winters (“Dig,” “The Americans,” “Boss,” “Oz”) is the showrunner and an executive producer. Other executive producers for the series include Academy Award(R) winner Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Insider, Munich, “House of Cards”), and Steve Golin, Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Keith Redmon and Luke Rivett from Anonymous Content (“True Detective,” “The Knick,” “Mr. Robot”).

“With Olen’s vision and a stellar cast, we believe Berlin Station is a game-changing project,” said Mark S. Greenberg, President and CEO, EPIX. “This powerful series has all the elements that we want to define EPIX as we launch our scripted programming slate: quality production values, a brilliant creative team and riveting storytelling.”

Berlin Station follows Daniel Miller, who has just arrived at the CIA foreign station in Berlin, Germany. Miller has a clandestine mission: to determine the identity of a now-famous whistleblower masquerading as “Thomas Shaw.” Guided by jaded veteran Hector DeJean, Daniel learns to contend with the rough-and-tumble world of the field officer – agent-running, deception, danger and moral compromises. As he dives deeper into the German capital’s hall of mirrors and uncovers the threads of a conspiracy that leads back to Washington, Daniel wonders: Can anyone ever be the same after a posting to Berlin?”

What do you think? Does Berlin Station sound like something you’d watch? Do you subscribe to EPIX?