''Limitless'' is an American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
television series that aired on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
for one season from 2015 to 2016. It is a continuation of the
2011 film of the same name, and takes place four years after the film's events. The series stars
Jake McDorman as Brian Finch, who samples a mysterious
nootropic
Nootropics ( or ) (colloquially brain supplements, smart drugs, cognitive enhancers, memory enhancers, or brain boosters) are chemical substances which purportedly improve cognitive functions, such as attention, memory, wakefulness, and self ...
drug, which unlocks the full potential of the human brain and gives its user enhanced mental faculties.
''Limitless'' premiered on CBS on September 22, 2015 to mixed reviews from critics. After a single 22-episode season that ended on April 26, 2016, showrunner
Craig Sweeny announced that CBS cancelled the series.
Premise
Brian Finch, a 28-year-old burnout and struggling musician, is introduced to NZT-48, a miracle drug that gives him access to every neuron in his brain. For twelve hours after taking the pill, he becomes the smartest person in the world, able to perfectly recall every detail of his life and capable of prodigious leaps of intuition and reasoning. With the mysterious
US Senator
The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
Eddie Morra providing him with an immunity shot to counteract NZT's deadly side effects, Brian uses his enhanced abilities to help
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
Special Agent
In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...
Rebecca Harris. The FBI does not know about the shot and Brian has to struggle to keep both worlds separate.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Jake McDorman as Brian Finch
*
Jennifer Carpenter
Jennifer Carpenter (born December 7, 1979) is an American actress. Her early film roles include the cult comedy ''White Chicks'' (2004) and the supernatural horror '' The Exorcism of Emily Rose'' (2005), with the latter establishing her as a ...
as FBI Special Agent Rebecca Harris
*
Hill Harper
Frank Eugene "Hill" Harper (born May 17, 1966) is an American actor and political candidate, who is known for his roles as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes in '' CSI: NY'', Agent Spelman Boyle in '' Limitless'', and Dr. Marcus Andrews in '' The Good Doctor'' ...
as FBI Special Agent Spelman Boyle, named for
Spelman College
Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...
.
*
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (born November 17, 1958) is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut in the 1980 revival of ''West Side Story'', and went on to appear in the 1983 film '' Scarface'' as Al Pacino's character's si ...
as FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Nasreen "Naz" Pouran, of
Iranian
Iranian () may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Iran
** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran
** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia
** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...
origin, commander of the Cross Jurisdictional Command (CJC) team
Recurring
*
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 ...
as U.S. Senator Edward "Eddie" Morra, the original protagonist from
the 2011 film
*
Lio Tipton
Lio Tipton (formerly Analeigh Tipton; born November 9, 1988) is an American actor and fashion model. Tipton is known for being the last eliminated on Cycle 11 of ''America's Next Top Model'' and for their roles in the films '' Crazy, Stupid, L ...
as Shauna, Brian's ex-girlfriend
*
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 ...
as Dennis Finch, Brian's father
*
Blair Brown
Bonnie Blair Brown (born April 23, 1946) is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play ''Copenhagen'' on Broadway (for which she won a Tony Award in 2000), the leading ...
as Marie Finch, Brian's mother
* Megan Guinan as Rachel Finch, Brian's sister
*
Tom Degnan
Tom Degnan (born September 24, 1982, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania) is an American actor. He is best known for his role on ''One Life to Live'' as Joey Buchanan from 2010 to 2011. He also appeared in ''As the World Turns
''As the World Turns ...
as FBI Agent Jason "Ike", Mike's partner and Brian's bodyguard
*
Michael James Shaw as FBI Agent Daryl "Mike", Ike's partner and Brian's bodyguard
*
Colin Salmon
Colin Roy Salmon (born 6 December 1961) is an English actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. He has had roles on many television series such as ''D ...
as Jarrod Sands, a former
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
officer who now works as a
fixer for Morra
*
Desmond Harrington
Desmond Harrington (born October 19, 1976) is an American actor. He made his film debut in 1999, playing Jean d'Aulon in '' The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc''. His later credits include '' Riding in Cars with Boys'', '' The Hole'' (both ...
as SWAT Agent Casey Rooks
*
Georgina Haig
Georgina Haig is an Australian actress, known for her roles in American television series ''Once Upon a Time (TV series), Once Upon a Time, Fringe (TV series), Fringe, Limitless (TV series), Limitless, Snowpiercer (TV series), Snowpiercer'' an ...
as Piper Baird
* Michael Devine as James "Tech" Padgett
* Henry Gagliardi as young Brian Finch
Episodes
Production
Development
On October 31, 2014, it was announced that actor
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 ...
had decided to develop a television series based on a movie, and had teamed with
Alex Kurtzman
Alexander Hilary Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for co-writing the scripts to ''Transformers'' (2007), '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)'', ''Star Trek'' (2009), ''Star Trek Into Darkness ...
and
Roberto Orci
Roberto Gaston Orcí (July 20, 1973 – February 25, 2025) was a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer.
Born in Mexico City, Orci began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Toge ...
to develop the concept.
CBS Television Studios
CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a re ...
was shopping the show to the American broadcast networks.
Craig Sweeny would write the series, while Cooper would serve as executive producer. CBS ordered a pilot on January 28, 2015. In addition to Cooper, Kurtzman, Orci, and Sweeny served as executive producers for the series, which is set 4 years after the original film. On February 3, 2015, it was announced that
Marc Webb
Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974) is an American filmmaker and music video director. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy '' (500) Days of Summer.'' He then directed ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' (2012 ...
would direct the pilot.
Casting
On February 26, 2015, it was announced that
Jake McDorman had joined the production as Brian Finch. Several additional cast members were announced in March 2015.
Jennifer Carpenter
Jennifer Carpenter (born December 7, 1979) is an American actress. Her early film roles include the cult comedy ''White Chicks'' (2004) and the supernatural horror '' The Exorcism of Emily Rose'' (2005), with the latter establishing her as a ...
plays FBI Special Agent Rebecca Harris.
Hill Harper
Frank Eugene "Hill" Harper (born May 17, 1966) is an American actor and political candidate, who is known for his roles as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes in '' CSI: NY'', Agent Spelman Boyle in '' Limitless'', and Dr. Marcus Andrews in '' The Good Doctor'' ...
is FBI Special Agent Spelman Boyle. Finally,
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (born November 17, 1958) is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut in the 1980 revival of ''West Side Story'', and went on to appear in the 1983 film '' Scarface'' as Al Pacino's character's si ...
is FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Nasreen "Naz" Pouran, of Iranian origin commander of the Cross Jurisdictional Command (CJC) team.
Broadcast
Premiere of ''Limitless'' was broadcast in the U.S. on CBS on September 22, 2015.
In Canada, the show was
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
with the American broadcast, which was aired on
Global
Global may refer to:
General
*Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies
*Earth, the third planet from the Sun
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
. In
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, the TV station
Space
Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
aired the series on October 1, 2015. The series premiered in Australia on
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
on October 11, 2015. In
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, the series aired on January 3, 2016 on
Rai 2
Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting '' TG2'' news bulletins, ta ...
. In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, the series aired on February 17, 2016 on
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
.
Reception
''Limitless'' received mixed reviews from critics. The
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...
reports a 58% approval rating with an average rating of 6.4/10 based on 48 reviews. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Even with a likable hero, ''Limitless'' cannot overcome its credulity-straining premise and shaky, hole-riddled narrative." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the series holds an average score of 57 out of 100 based on 30 critics.
Ratings
Notes
References
External links
*
* {{IMDb title, 4422836
2010s American comedy-drama television series
2010s American comic science fiction television series
2010s American crime drama television series
2015 American television series debuts
2016 American television series endings
American crime comedy television series
American English-language television shows
American thriller television series
CBS comedy-dramas
K/O Paper Products films
Live action television shows based on films
Smart drugs in fiction
Television series about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Television series based on adaptations
Television series by CBS Studios
Television shows about drugs
Television shows based on Irish novels
Television shows set in New York City