Treadstone

Premise

Treadstone explores the origin story and present-day actions of a fictional CIA black-ops program known as Operation Treadstone — a covert program that uses a behavior modification protocol to turn recruits into nearly-superhuman assassins. The series follows sleeper agents across the globe as they are mysteriously 'awakened' to resume their deadly missions. The program breaks down these assassins' personalities, erases their memories, and eliminates their moral code so they can effectively kill targets around the world.

The series explores Treadstone's legacy and begins with an incident in East Berlin in 1973. This involves John Randolph Bentley (Jeremy Irvine), one of the program's agents, who escapes his Soviet captors. The story then zooms to the present day, following a group of assets being "activated" by force or awakened after a moment of high tension.

Cast

Main

Jeremy Irvine as John Randolph Bentley

Tracy Ifeachor as Tara Coleman

Han Hyo-joo as Soyun Park (Korean: 박소윤; Hanja: 朴素妍)

Omar Metwally as Matt Edwards

Brian J. Smith as Doug McKenna

Gabrielle Scharnitzky as Petra Andropov (Russian: Петра Андропова, Petra Andropova)

Emilia Schüle as young Petra

Michelle Forbes as Ellen Becker

Recurring

Michael Gaston as Dan Levine

Jung-woo Seo as Dae Park (Korean: 박대)

Min-jun Woo as Jin-woo Park (Korean: 박진우; Hanja: 朴振宇)

Tess Haubrich as Samantha McKenna

Patrick Fugit as Stephen Haynes (credited as "Special guest star")

Lee Jong-hyuk as Colonel Shin (Korean: 신)

Oliver Walker as Matheson

Shruti Haasan as Nira Patel (Hindi: नीरा पटेल)

Merab Ninidze as Yuri Leniov (present day)

Tzi Ma as General Chin-Hwa Kwon (Korean: 권진화; Hanja: 权振华)

Production

Development

On April 12, 2018, it was announced that USA Network had given the production a pilot order. The episode was written by Tim Kring and expected to be directed by Ramin Bahrani, both of whom were also set to act as executive producers alongside Ben Smith, Jeffrey Weiner, Justin Levy, and Bradley Thomas. Production companies involved with the pilot were slated to consist of Universal Cable Productions, Captivate Entertainment, and Imperative Entertainment. On August 16, 2018, it was reported that USA Network had decided to forego the pilot process and instead were issuing the production a straight-to-series order. Additionally, it was reported that Dan Friedkin was joining the series as an executive producer. In May 2020, the series was canceled after one season.

Casting

On November 8, 2018, it was announced that Jeremy Irvine and Brian J. Smith had been cast in lead roles. On January 14, 2019, it was reported Omar Metwally, Tracy Ifeachor, Han Hyo-joo, Gabrielle Scharnitzky, and Emilia Schüle had joined the main cast. Michelle Forbes, Michael Gaston and Shruti Haasan were added to the cast, with Patrick Fugit and Tess Haubrich also appearing in a recurring capacity.

Filming

Principal photography for the series had begun by January 2019 in Budapest.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 20 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "While Treadstone is as action-packed and frenetically paced as you'd expect from the Bourne universe, it lacks the narrative momentum and cohesion necessary to set it apart." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 47 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Broadcast

Outside the United States, the series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on January 10, 2020.

In South Korea, the series premiered on OCN on June 18, 2021.

Home media

The series was released on DVD for Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on March 24, 2020.