''Harper's Island'' is an American horror mystery

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

created by Ari Schlossberg for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. Schlossberg,

Jeffrey Jackson Bell Jeffrey Jackson Bell is an American writer and producer best known for his work on television. He began his career writing for ''The X-Files'', where he stayed for three seasons, then became a writer/director/producer on ''Angel'', becoming its ...

and

Jon Turteltaub Jonathan Charles Turteltaub (born August 8, 1963) is an American film director and producer. Life and career Turteltaub was born on August 8, 1963 in New York City, one of two children born to comedy writer Saul Turteltaub (best known for his ...

served as executive producers. The series features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

led by Elaine Cassidy alongside

Christopher Gorham Christopher Gorham (born August 14, 1974) is an American actor who is best known for the ABC series ''Ugly Betty''. He has also appeared in such series as '' Insatiable'', ''Popular'', '' Odyssey 5'', '' Felicity'', ''Jake 2.0'', '' The Magicia ...

Katie Cassidy Katherine Evelyn Anita Cassidy (formerly Rodgers) (born November 25, 1986) is an American actress. Following several minor television roles, she came to attention as a scream queen after starring in the horror films '' When a Stranger Calls'' ...

Cameron Richardson Cameron Richardson (born September 11, 1979) is an American Film producer, producer, actor, actress and Model (person), model, who portrayed Chloe Carter on the CBS television miniseries ''Harper's Island'' in 2009. Early life Born in Baton Ro ...

, Adam Campbell,

C.J. Thomason Christopher John Thomason (born December 6, 1982) is an American model (person), model and actor. He is best known for his role as Jimmy Mance in the 2009 television series ''Harper's Island'' and his subsequent roles in horror films. Early lif ...

, and

Jim Beaver James Norman Beaver Jr. (born August 12, 1950) is an American actor, writer, and film historian. He is most familiar to worldwide audiences as Bobby Singer in ''Supernatural''. He also played Whitney Ellsworth on the HBO Western drama series ...

. The plot follows a group of family and friends that travel to the titular locale for a destination wedding, only to learn that there is a killer among them. At the center of the mystery is Abby Mills (Elaine Cassidy), whose mother was one of several people murdered by John Wakefield seven years prior. The series premiered on April 9, 2009, and was marketed as a thirteen-week limited event. The final two episodes aired on July 11. By the end of its run, ''Harper's Island'' averaged 9.36 million viewers, ranking #50 in

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. The first three episodes aired on Thursdays, but was moved to Saturdays during the week of April 28. Because of this,

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after C ...

premiered the following episodes two days prior to the United States. On July 14, 2009, CBS cancelled the series after one season.

Plot

The show takes place on Harper's Island, where John Wakefield went on a killing spree and murdered a number of people before supposedly being killed by the island sheriff, Charlie Mills. One of the victims was the sheriff's wife. After her death, Sheriff Mills sends their daughter, Abby, to live with family in L.A. and she hasn't returned since. After 7 years, Abby is finally returning to the island for her best friend Henry's wedding, but now the killing starts again and everyone is a suspect. The guests manage to unlock secrets of the island and of Wakefield as the series progresses.

Cast and characters

Main

* Elaine Cassidy as Abby Mills, the groom's best friend *

as Henry Dunn, fiancé of Trish Wellington *

as Patricia 'Trish' Wellington, the radiant bride-to-be * Gina Holden as Shea Allen, Trish's big sister and

Maid of Honor Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party in a Western traditional wedding ceremony. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often a close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Tradit ...

as Chloe Carter, one of Trish's bridesmaids * Adam Campbell as Cal Vandeusen, Chloe's boyfriend and a doctor * Matt Barr as Christopher "Sully" Sullivan, Henry's best man *

as Jimmy Mance, a local fisherman and Abby's high school sweetheart *

as Sheriff Charlie Mills, the sheriff on Harper's Island and Abby's father

Recurring

Richard Burgi Richard William Burgi (, born July 30, 1958) is an American film and television actor best known for the roles of Det. Jim Ellison on '' The Sentinel'' and as Karl Mayer on ''Desperate Housewives''. He also portrayed Paul Hornsby in the ABC day ...

as Thomas Wellington, real estate mogul and Trish and Shea's father *

Victor Webster Victor Webster (born February 7, 1973) is a Canadian actor. He is known for being the second actor to play Nicholas Alamain on the NBC daytime soap ''Days of Our Lives'' from 1999 to 2000, and for his roles as the mutant Brennan Mulwray in '' ...

as Hunter Jennings, Trish's ex-college boyfriend * Dean Chekvala as J.D. Dunn, Henry's brother * Harry Hamlin as "Uncle" Marty Dunn, Henry and J.D.'s uncle and surrogate father * David Lewis as Richard Allen, Shea's husband * Cassandra Sawtell as Madison Allen, Shea and Richard's daughter *

Claudette Mink Claudette Mink (born April 4, 1971) is a Canadian actress. Education She is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School The George Brown Theatre School is a drama school in Toronto, Canada. Providing training in multiple forms and practices of t ...

as Katherine Wellington, Trish and Shea's stepmother *

Brandon Jay McLaren Brandon Jay McLaren (born October 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor. He made his first screen appearance in the television series ''Just Cause'' (2002). He has been known for his main and supporting roles in shows such as ''Graceland'', ''Power Range ...

as Danny Brooks, a groomsman and Henry's best friend from college *

Chris Gauthier Christopher Gauthier (born 27 January 1976) is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his work in '' Need for Speed: Carbon''. He had a recurring role on the SyFy Channel series '' Eureka'', as Café Diem owner Vincent. While filming the f ...

as Malcolm Ross, a groomsman *

Sean Rogerson Sean Rogerson (born September 30, 1977) is a Canadian actor and former photomodel, known for his role as Lance Preston in the horror films, ''Grave Encounters'' and ''Grave Encounters 2''. Filmography * 2004: ''Tru Calling (TV Series)'' - The L ...

as Joel Booth, a groomsman * Amber Borycki as Beth Barrington, a bridesmaid and Trish's former college roommate *

Sarah Smyth Sarah Smyth (born October 12, 1982) is a Canadian actress who starred on the three seasons of the Canadian show '' Naked Josh'' and known for '' 50/50'' (2011), '' Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'' (2010), ''Alien Trespass ' ...

as Lucy Daramour, a bridesmaid and one of Trish's childhood friends *

Ben Cotton Ben Cotton (born July 26, 1975) is a Canadian film and television actor. His most notable roles are on the TV series ''Stargate Atlantis'' playing scientist Dr. Kavanagh, his portrayal of "Leon Bell" in the game Dead Rising 2, Shane Pierce, the ...

as Shane Pierce, a local fisherman who pretty much hates everyone * Anna Mae Routledge as Kelly Seaver, Shane's ex-girlfriend *

Ali Liebert ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

as Nikki Bolton, Abby's friend who manages The Cannery * Beverly Elliott as Maggie Krell, the manager of The Candlewick Inn *

Callum Keith Rennie Callum Keith Rennie (born 14 September 1960) is a British-born Canadian actor who started his career in Canadian film and television projects, where his portrayal of Stanley Raymond Kowalski on the television series '' Due South'' was his firs ...

as John Wakefield, the perpetrator of the 2001 murders

Guest

Julia Anderson Julia Benson (née Anderson; June 26, 1979) is a Canadian actress. She played the character Vanessa James in the science fiction series ''Stargate Universe''. Early life Julia Anderson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She trained as a ...

as Tyra Coulter, a police officer from Seattle who is new to the force *

Jay Brazeau Jay Brazeau is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Sam Fisher in ''Cold Squad'', as Harlan in ''Stargate SG-1'' (1997–2007), and for voicing Uncle Quigley in '' Sabrina: The Animated Series''. He is also known for his role as Bobby in ...

as Ike Campbell, a medical examiner * Nicholas Carella as Patrick Lillis, the sheriff's deputy * Clint Carleton as Ben Wellington, Trish and Shea's cousin and Thomas' nephew * Chilton Crane as Karena Fox, a local

psychic medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

* Terrence Kelly as Reverend Fain, the priest of the church *

Melanie Merkosky Melanie Merkosky (born April 7, 1986) is a Canadian actress. She played Jennie in the Internet series lonelygirl15. Career Merkosky had parts on ''Runaway'', ''Slings and Arrows'', and '' American Pie Presents The Naked Mile''. In 2009, she sta ...

as Robin Matthews, newly hired journalist and main character of the ''Harper's Globe'' online series * Maxine Miller as Julia Mitchell, a local elderly woman * Aaron Pearl as Deputy Garrett, the sheriff's other deputy and jail guard *

Sarah-Jane Redmond Sarah-Jane Redmond is a British actress and acting coach, living in Canada, whose work has spanned film, television and theatre productions, often in science fiction roles. She has taught acting at the New Image College of Fine Arts in British ...

as Sarah Mills, mother of Abby and wife of the sheriff, one of the victims of the 2001 murders * Michael Rogers as Darryl Riggens, a police officer from Seattle * Dean Wray as Cole Harkin, the survivor of the 2001 murders and the sheriff's former deputy

Development

In March 2008, CBS ordered a 15-minute pilot presentation of the project. In May 2008, the show was retooled, with

Jeffrey Bell Jeffrey Jackson Bell is an American writer and producer best known for his work on television. He began his career writing for '' The X-Files'', where he stayed for three seasons, then became a writer/director/producer on '' Angel'', becoming it ...

coming on board as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

and

as an executive producer. Schlossberg remained on board as a co-executive producer along with Karim Zriek and Dan Shotz. Bell subsequently rewrote the first episode, which Jon Turteltaub would direct. During the retooling process, six of the pilot presentation's fifteen original cast members were replaced, including

Ryan Merriman Ryan Earl Merriman (born April 10, 1983) is an American actor. He began his career at the age of ten and has appeared in several feature films and television shows. He is best known for a handful of Disney Channel original movies and for portr ...

(Henry Dunn),

Samantha Noble Samantha C. Noble (born 15 May 1984) is an Australian actress who has worked on television series and films. She is best known for her role as Jade/Amitiel in '' Gabriel'', and has appeared in several films including '' See No Evil'' and ''Court ...

(Trish Wellington),

Bill Dow Bill Dow is an actor, director and writer in theatre, film, and television. He is best known for playing Bill Lee in the ''Stargate'' franchise. Career He also had a recurring roles as Russ Hathaway in the Canadian drama series ''Da Vinci's I ...

(Sheriff Mills) and

Bill Pullman William Pullman (born December 17, 1953) is an American actor. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, he was an adjunct professor at Montana State University before deciding to pursue acting. He made his film debut in ''R ...

(Uncle Marty). The roles of Thomas Wellington and Hunter Jennings were also recast. Actors who remained with the show from pilot-presentation to the aired television pilot include Elaine Cassidy,

, Adam Campbell,

, Matt Barr, Cassandra Sawtell,

and Sean Rogerson. The series was shot on

Bowen Island Bowen Island (originally Nex̱wlélex̱m in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), British Columbia, is an island municipality that is part of Metro Vancouver. Bowen Island is within the jurisdiction of the Islands Trust. Located in Howe Sound, it is approximate ...

, an island municipality about two kilometers west of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, and at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thr ...

. The actors and actresses were not told about their characters' deaths until the day that each script was given. The only two actors to know the length of their contracts were

, as his death was seen as a major turning point in the series, and Harry Hamlin, as his contract was for a single episode.

Episodes

Ratings

Despite falling ratings, CBS aired all ''Harper's Island'' episodes, although the show was moved from its original night and time to Saturdays. At the end of the 2008-2009 television season the show ranged at #50 being viewed in approximately 9,360,000 homes in North America. In Australia, ''Harper's Island'' ratings were very low, being beaten by competing shows on other networks. Throughout its run, the series alternated times slots. In Canada, the show continued to air Thursday nights on

. In Denmark, ''Harper's Island'' was moved after episode 5 from Thursdays at 10:50 pm to around midnight. In Ireland the show stayed on its original Monday night airing at 10:00 pm. In the United Kingdom, the show's ratings started off under average but as the series progressed it became the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

channel's number one show on Sundays, and therefore maintained the 9:00 pm slot. In Finland, the program was aired at 9:00 pm during the whole season. The series has been aired multiple times on

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

's RTM channel tv2, every Wednesday and Thursday nights airing at midnight.

''Harper's Globe''

''Harper's Globe'' is a social

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

, designed to complement ''Harper's Island''. The series is created by

EQAL EQAL was a media and technology company founded in 2008 by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, two of the creators of ''lonelygirl15''. EQAL built influencer networks around celebrities, consumer brands, and intellectual properties. Prior to buildi ...

(creators of ''

lonelygirl15 ''Lonelygirl15'' is an American science fiction thriller web series created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda Goodfried. It was independently released on YouTube from June 16, 2006 to August 1, 2008, and was also briefl ...

'', '' KateModern'', '' LG15: The Resistance'') and

CBS Interactive Paramount Streaming (formerly CBS Digital Media Group, CBS Interactive, ViacomCBS Streaming), a division of Paramount Global, oversees the company’s streaming technology and offers direct-to-consumer services, free, premium and pay. These incl ...

. The show premiered its weekly episodes on March 18, 2009, and ran for a total of sixteen weeks. It stars

, who played the character Jennie in ''lonelygirl15''. Creator Miles Beckett says of the series, "The story of ''Harper's Globe'' is about a girl named Robin, with a very mysterious past, who's gone to Harper's Island to work for the newspaper, Harper's Globe, and to digitize articles from the newspaper and to create a community online for the Harper's Globe newspaper and the citizens of Harper's Island. And then she gets pulled into the story as it begins to unfold on the island." The character Ben, who was the first character to die in ''Harper's Island'', was first seen in a ''Harper's Globe'' episode. The series also features appearances by Harper's Island characters Sheriff Mills, Nikki Bolton, Maggie Krell and John Wakefield.

Home media

On September 8, 2009,

CBS Home Entertainment CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...

(distributed by Paramount) released ''Harper's Island: The DVD Edition'', a complete series box set on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Although the show was shot in HD, no Blu-ray Disc version of the show has been announced. The DVD set was released on February 8, 2010, for Region 2, and was released on March 4, 2010, for Region 4.

Streaming

The entire series was available on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

between summer 2014 and July 1, 2015, when it was removed from the service after the Netflix license had expired. The show became available on

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

, free for Amazon Prime members, otherwise available for purchase. The series is also available on

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United S ...

and on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

's free streaming platform, CW Seed. It is also available on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

in the UK.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1232320, Harper's Island
''Harper's Island''
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

''Harper's Island''
at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

2000s American drama television series 2009 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings 2000s American television miniseries CBS original programming English-language television shows Serial drama television series 2000s American horror television series 2000s American mystery television series Television shows set in Washington (state) Television series by CBS Studios Television shows filmed in Vancouver Mystery drama web series