The second season of '' Alias'' premiered September 29, 2002 on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

and concluded May 4, 2003 and was released on DVD in region 1 on December 2, 2003. Guest stars in season two include

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor, director, and producer, whose career included over 200 major and minor roles in film, television and on stage. He was widely known ...

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...

, Richard Lewis,

Faye Dunaway Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Faye Dunaway, many accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, ...

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor, with a career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. H ...

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopath ...

, and

Danny Trejo Danny Trejo (, ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. Known for his Danny Trejo filmography, large body of work as a character actor, films in which he has appeared in have grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide. A native of Los Angeles, Tr ...

. The thirteenth episode of the season, "Phase One", aired after

Super Bowl XXXVII Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

Cast

Main

Jennifer Garner Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is an American actress. Born in Houston, Texas and raised in Charleston, West Virginia, Garner studied theater at Denison University and began acting as an understudy for the Roundabout Theatre Company ...

Sydney Bristow Sydney Anne Bristow (played by Jennifer Garner) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the television series '' Alias''. She is an American woman with a Russian-Canadian family background who thought she was working as a spy for the ...

(22 episodes) *

Ron Rifkin Ron Rifkin (born Saul M. Rifkin; October 31, 1939) is an American actor best known for his roles as Arvin Sloane on the spy drama '' Alias'', Saul Holden on the drama '' Brothers & Sisters'', and District Attorney Ellis Loew in '' L.A. Confide ...

Arvin Sloane Arvin Sloane is a fictional character played by Ron Rifkin. He was the former director of SD-6 on the television series, '' Alias''. ''TV Guide'' included him in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.Bretts, Bruce; Roush, Matt; ( ...

(22 episodes) *

Michael Vartan Michael Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is an American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama '' Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The Arrangeme ...

as Michael Vaughn (22 episodes) *

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and three Grammy Awards. In addition, he has been nominated for twelve Acade ...

Will Tippin The following is a partial list of characters from the spy action thriller television series '' Alias''. Overview Main characters Recurring characters McKenas Cole McKenas Cole was portrayed by Quentin Tarantino. Formerly an operative for ...

(19 episodes) *

Merrin Dungey Merrin Melissa Dungey (born August 6, 1971) is an American film and television actress, known for her roles on the television series ''The King of Queens'', '' Alias'', ''Malcolm in the Middle'', '' Summerland'', ''Conviction'', '' The Resident'' ...

Francie Calfo Francine "Francie" Calfo is a fictional character on the television series '' Alias,'' portrayed by Merrin Dungey from 2001 to 2003 and again in 2006. Initially the best friend of lead character Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner), Francie is murder ...

and

Allison Doren Francine "Francie" Calfo is a fictional character on the television series '' Alias,'' portrayed by Merrin Dungey from 2001 to 2003 and again in 2006. Initially the best friend of lead character Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner), Francie is murder ...

(21 episodes) *

Carl Lumbly Carl Winston Lumbly (born August 14, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for '' M.A.N.T.I.S.'' (1994–1997) and has also had television roles on '' Cagney & Lacey'' (1982–1988) and '' Alias'' (2001–2006). He has also had roles in v ...

as Marcus Dixon (16 episodes) *

Kevin Weisman Kevin Glen Weisman (born December 29, 1970) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Lester Thompson in the NBC drama, '' Suits LA'' (2025)'','' as well as Marshall Flinkman in the ABC action thriller series '' Alias'' (2001–2006), Ray ...

Marshall Flinkman Marshall J. Flinkman is a fictional character on the television series, '' Alias''. Flinkman, portrayed by Kevin Weisman, is the tech geek at SD-6 and then later the CIA. When a field agent is sent on a mission, Marshall serves in a function simi ...

(21 episodes) *

David Anders David Anders Holt (born March 11, 1981), known professionally as David Anders, is an American television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Julian Sark on '' Alias'', as Adam Monroe on '' Heroes'', as John Gilbert in the TV serie ...

Julian Sark Julian Sark is a recurring fictional character portrayed by David Anders on the ABC television series '' Alias''. The series follows Sydney Bristow, an operative working for an organization called SD-6 which she believes is a covert branch of the ...

(15 episodes) *

Lena Olin Lena Maria Jonna Olin (; born 22 March 1955) is a Swedish actress. She has received nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Mentored by filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, she made her screen d ...

Irina Derevko Irina Derevko () is a fictional character on the television series '' Alias'', and a main character during the second season of the series. Irina, played by Lena Olin, is the mother of the central character, Sydney Bristow. Biography She is firs ...

(17 episodes) *

Victor Garber Victor Garber, (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian stage and film actor and singer. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2022, he was made an ...

Jack Bristow Jonathan "Jack" Donahue Bristow, played by Victor Garber, is a fictional character of the ABC television series '' Alias''. He is the father of the central character Sydney Bristow, played by Jennifer Garner. For playing the character, Garber ...

(22 episodes)

Recurring

Episodes

Reception

Despite earning critical acclaim from ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' and attracting the largest audience of the series with 17.4 million viewers, "Phase One" retained just 19 percent of the

audience and has the dubious distinction of earning the lowest overall ratings for a program airing after a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

since at least 1987 and the lowest rating ever (8.3 rating) in the age 18-49 demographic for a post-

program. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that the episode didn't air until 11 p.m. on the East Coast, which also meant it was not eligible for the week's list of top primetime shows ranked by

Nielsen Media Research 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 ...

and thus, the episode's viewership numbers were not factored in the series' overall 2002-2003 season average. This late slot was partially due to a decision to include a

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...

performance in the post-game show. In 2009, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' ranked "The Telling" as #84 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.

Home release

The 6-DVD box set of Season 2 was released in region 1 format (US) on December 2, 2003, in region 2 format (UK) on June 7, 2004 and in region 4 format (AU) on July 4, 2004. The DVDs contain all episodes of Season 2, plus the following features: * Deleted Scenes * Gag Reel * Audio Commentary with cast & crew * ''The Making of The Telling'' – An In-Depth Look at the Season Finale * ''The Making of the Video Game'' * Featurette: ''Undercover: The Look of Alias'' – A Look at Costume Design, Makeup, and Disguises (A skit filmed for ''

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

'' was advertised as being in the set, but was removed from the DVD set before release.)

References

External links

* {{Alias 2002 American television seasons 2003 American television seasons Alias (TV series) seasons