Production has begun on Counterpart, Starz’s upcoming straight-to-series drama from MRC, Gilbert Films and Anonymous Content.

Ulrich Thomsen (Banshee) joins the cast of the series that stars J.K. Simmons, Olivia Williams, and Harry Lloyd. The Imitation Game‘s Morten Tyldum executive produces and directed the first episode.

Courtesy of Starz

Described as an espionage thriller with a metaphysical twist, Counterpart is the story of Howard Silk (Simmons), a lowly cog in a bureaucratic agency, who discovers that the agency he works for is really guarding a crossing into a parallel dimension. Through Howard and his “Counterpart” on the other side, the show will navigate themes of identity, what ifs, and lost love. Starz ordered two 10 episode seasons in 2015.

In a recasting, Thomsen takes over for Michael Nyqvist, who had to depart the series due to scheduling conflicts, He plays Aldrich (previously Chekhov), the hardened Director of Counterintelligence at Howard’s agency and a strange mix of philosopher and spy. Nazanin Boniadi, Nicholas Pinnock and Sara Serraiocco round out the series regular cast. Filming is underway in Los Angeles and will continue in additional locations across the U.S. and Europe in 2017.

Thomsen is best known for playing Kai Proctor in Cinemax’s Banshee. He also recurred on The Blacklist and recently starred in The Commune, which premiered in the Toronto International Film Festival. He’s repped by Greene & Associates Talent Agency and Sanders Armstrong Caserta Management.

Created and written by Justin Marks (The Jungle Book), Counterpart is executive produced by Tyldum and Marks with Amy Berg (Da Vinci’s Demons), Gary Gilbert (La La Land) with Gilbert Films, Jordan Horowitz (La La Land), Keith Redmon (The Revenant) and Bard Dorros (Spotlight) with Anonymous Content. Simmons also serves as a producer.