One of 2018's best series is returning ... in 2018! At a time when some of the most-watched and celebrated cable and premium series are making us wait over a year or two between seasons (like Game of Thrones, Westworld, Atlanta, and others), Starz is giving us more Counterpart before the year is even out. That's great news, too, since the enthralling series has truly been a standout drama in a crowded TV landscape.

For those who haven't caught up yet, Counterpart stars J.K. Simmons in dual roles, and takes place in a world that split in two during the 1980s. This parallel realm is one ordinary people are completely unaware of, but there is a portal of sorts in Berlin where the two sides have been meeting in the decades since, while these two realities have grown apart from one another. Everyone has a "counterpart," though, in this other world, and one of the most engrossing elements of the show's first season was seeing how Simmons' character from our world, Howard, differed (and was the same) as his counterpart. Soon, multiple characters start taking on dual roles, in an increasingly complicated and emotionally-intense plot that constantly finds new ways to surprise. (You can read my spoiler-free review of Season 1 here).

In the second season, Counterpart will look to explore the question of how the choices we've made in our lives could have made things so drastically different, as the two Howards are now trapped in each other's worlds.

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) and James Cromwell (American Horror Story: Asylum) will also join the cast as Naya Temple and Yanek, respectively. Check out the heart-pounding trailer 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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