''Hand of God'' is an American drama

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

series created by Ben Watkins. The premiere episode is one of two drama pilots that Amazon streamed online in August 2014, along with ''Hysteria''. Viewers were allowed to offer their opinions about the pilot before the studio decided whether or not to place an order for the entire series. In October 2014, ''Hand of God'' was ordered to full series by

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

. The series officially premiered on September 4, 2015. A second season was ordered in December 2015, which premiered on March 10, 2017. On September 15, 2016, Amazon Studios announced that the series would end after the second season.

Plot

''Hand of God'' follows Pernell Harris ( Ron Perlman), a corrupt judge who suffers a breakdown and believes that God is compelling him onto a path of vigilante justice. He becomes a member of a church called Hand of God, which proves to be a dangerous cult.

Cast

Main

* Ron Perlman as Pernell Harris *

Dana Delany Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television drama '' China Beach'' (1988–1991), for whic ...

as Crystal Harris *

Andre Royo Andre Royo (born July 18, 1968) is an American actor, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins on the HBO crime drama series ''The Wire'', and his appearances on ''Fringe'', ''Party Down'', ''How to Make I ...

as Robert "Bobo" Boston *

Garret Dillahunt Garret Lee Dillahunt (born November 24, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in television, including the roles Burt Chance on the Fox sitcom ''Raising Hope'', for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television A ...

as KD *

Alona Tal Alona Tal ( he, אלונה טל, ; born ) is an Israeli actress and singer. She is known for her roles in ''Veronica Mars'' as cheerleader Meg Manning, in '' Supernatural'' as budding monster hunter Jo Harvelle, and in '' SEAL Team'' as grad stu ...

as Jocelyn Harris * Emayatzy Corinealdi as Tessie Graham * Julian Morris as Paul Curtis * Elizabeth McLaughlin as Alicia Hopkins

Recurring

* Johnny Ferro as PJ Harris (Pernell Jr.) * Cleavon McClendon as Asa Boston *

Maximiliano Hernández Maximiliano Hernández (born September 12, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Agent Jasper Sitwell in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and FBI Agent Chris Amador in the first season of ''The Americans''. Early life A nati ...

as Chief Toby Clay * Jimmy Ray Bennett as Nathan Brooks * Elaine Tan as Anne Wu *

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

as April *

Jon Tenney Jonathan Frederick Tenney (born December 16, 1961) is an American actor. He played Special Agent Fritz Howard in TNT's ''The Closer'' and continued in its spinoff '' Major Crimes''. Early life Tenney was born in Princeton, New Jersey. His mother ...

as Nick Tramble * Hunter Parrish as Josh Miller *

Nia Long Nia Talita Long (born October 30, 1970) is an American actress. Best known for her work in Black cinema, Long rose to prominence after starring in the film ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), and for her portrayal of Beullah "Lisa" Wilkes on the NBC sit ...

as Izzy *

Sandy Martin Sandy Martin is an American actress, playwright, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles in the film '' Napoleon Dynamite'' and the TV series '' Big Love'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and '' Ray Donovan''. Career Mart ...

as Randy * Tommy Day Carey as Detective Warren *

Anthony Starke Anthony Starke is an American actor. He is well known for his one-episode role in ''Seinfeld'', playing the third-person-speaking character Jimmy in "The Jimmy", as well as playing Jack on ''The George Carlin Show'', on Fox. Biography Starke a ...

as DA Gilbert McCauley *

Camryn Manheim Debra Frances "Camryn" Manheim (born March 8, 1961) is an American actress known for her roles as attorney Ellenor Frutt on ABC's '' The Practice'', Delia Banks on CBS's '' Ghost Whisperer'', Gladys Presley in the 2005 miniseries '' Elvis'', and ...

as Dr. Langston * Linda Gray as Aunt Val *

Brian Baumgartner Brian Baumgartner (born November 29, 1972) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Kevin Malone, a character in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013). Early life and career Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Baumgartner attended Holy In ...

as Dr. Olonari *

Guy Burnet Guy Burnet (born 8 August 1983) is a British theatre, film and television actor. Early life Burnet was born in London, England. He attended Holland Park School where his interest in drama first developed, taking an A level in the subject. Bef ...

as Raymond Kelly * Eric J. Krueger as Adam Rieders

Episodes

Season 1 (2014–2015)

Season 2 (2017)

Reception

The series has received mixed reviews from critics. On

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 ...

, the first season has a metascore of 44 out of 100 based on 19 critics reviews, and an 8.2/10 from IGN. The average rating on TV.com is 8.3 out of 10 based on 33 ratings. Emily VanDerWerff of Vox called the show "mind-bogglingly bad". Mike Hale of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote that it "loses its focus" and that it feels "attenuated and static". Mary McNamara of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' gave the series a negative review, writing that it had great acting but "little else". David Sims of ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' wrote that the climax of the series didn't "justify 10 depressing hours of television". In contrast, Robert Rorke of the ''

NY Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established i ...

'' called the show "oddly compelling", while Tirdad Derakhshani of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' wrote, "It's such an engaging, original, quirky, and thought-provoking drama, it should be seen."

References

External links

* {{Amazon Video original series 2010s American drama television series 2014 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings Amazon Prime Video original programming Television series by Universal Television Vigilante television series