There is plenty to be excited for in the sure-to-be tense new season of Starz's excellent sci-fi spy series Counterpart, but a new character trailer just raised things up a notch. In it, we are introduced to James Cromwell's Yanek, "the enigmatic warden of Echo, an underground facility where Howard (J.K. Simmons) finds himself fighting for his life." He also refers to himself as someone who “extract[s] intelligence from the people of our world so they can use it on people over there." Yikes!

Yanek is full of pithy summations of this complicated world, explaining how “since the beginning of time, mankind has existed between what is and what could be," and "faced with survival we all give in to our darkest self." Counterpart played with some light elements of sci-fi elements in its first season (other than, you know, the central idea of their being a world that split from ours that we can access), but Yanek's work seems to be going even further with it. "Our worlds are at war," he warns. "And we must prepare for it."

Counterpart will return to Starz December 9th, and also stars Olivia Williams (Manhattan), Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones), Nicholas Pinnock (Marcella), Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland) and Sara Serraiocco (Salvo). Betty Gabriel (Get Out) is also joining the cast as Naya Temple. Check out the exclusive new teaser below:

Here’s the official Season 2 synopsis:

At The Office of Interchange, those who have high enough access safeguard a crossing into a parallel dimension not unlike our own. And if their world is like ours, who are we over there? Are we better? Are we different? Season Two finds Howard (J.K. Simmons) and his counterpart living out these questions. With the Crossing closed and each of them stranded in the other’s world, they have to adapt for survival. Howard Prime takes on his other’s life: going to his job, living in his home… with his wife. Howard Alpha is locked in a mysterious black site known as Echo, cut off from everyone he knows. As a cold war escalates between worlds deepening a fickle divide, both men find themselves growing increasingly like their other.

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Image via Starz
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Image via Starz
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Image via Starz

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