Legends (TV series)

Legends
Genre	Crime drama Action Thriller
Based on	Legends: A Novel of Dissimulation  by Robert Littell
Developed by	Howard Gordon Jeffrey Nachmanoff Mark Bomback
Starring	Sean Bean Ali Larter Morris Chestnut Tina Majorino Steve Harris Amber Valletta Mason Cook Steve Kazee Winter Ave Zoli Klára Issová Aisling Franciosi Anna Rust Kelly Overton Ralph Brown
Composer(s)	Reinhold Heil Tree Adams
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	20 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Howard Gordon Alexander Cary Jonathan Levin Brad Turner David Wilcox Joseph McKay Ethan Reiff David Semel Cyrus Voris Kenneth Biller
Producer(s)	Sean Bean Kelly A. Manners Jamie Payne
Editor(s)	James Kilton Scott Lerner Tod Feuerman Scott Boyd Lise Johnson David Lebowitz Mark C. Baldwin Stephen Mark Scott Powell Leonard Jordan
Cinematography	Yasu Tanida Sidney Sidell Mathias Herndl
Production company(s)	Paperboy Productions (Season 2) Teakwood Lane Productions Fox 21 (2014) Fox 21 Television Studios (2015)
Distributor	20th Television
Release
Original network	TNT
Original release	August 13, 2014 – December 28, 2015
External links
Official website

Legends is an American crime drama television series which aired on TNT from August 13, 2014 to December 28, 2015.^[1][2] Developed by Howard Gordon, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, and Mark Bomback, the series is based on the book Legends: A Novel of Dissimulation written by Robert Littell.^[3] On December 4, 2014, TNT renewed Legends for a 10-episode second season,^[4] which premiered on November 2, 2015.^[5] On December 15, 2015, TNT canceled the series after two seasons and 20 episodes.^[6]

Premise

Martin Odum (Bean) is an undercover FBI agent who changes himself into a different person for each case. A "mysterious stranger" (played by Billy Brown) causes him to question his sanity.^[7]

Cast

Season 1

• Sean Bean as Martin Odum, an undercover agent working for the FBI's Division of Covert Operations (DCO) who struggles with his real identity outside of his legends.
• Ali Larter as Crystal McGuire, a fellow operative who has a brief romantic history with Martin.^[8]
• Morris Chestnut as Tony Rice, an FBI agent who is trying to uncover secrets he believes Martin is hiding. He recently became part of the DCO team and now helps Martin.^[8]
• Tina Majorino as Maggie Harris, the rookie member of the DCO team and an expert data manipulator.^[8]
• Steve Harris as Nelson Gates, director of the DCO task force.^[8]
• Amber Valletta as Sonya Odum, Martin's estranged wife.^[8]
• Mason Cook as Aiden Odum, Martin's pre-teen son.^[8]

Season 2

• Sean Bean as Martin Odum^[9]
• Steve Kazee as Curtis Ballard^[9]
• Winter Ave Zoli as Gabrielle Miskova^[9]
• Klára Issová as Ilyana Crawford^[9]
• Aisling Franciosi as Kate Crawford^[9]
• Kelly Overton as Nina Brenner^[9]
• Ralph Brown as Terrence Graves^[9]
• Anna Rust as Khava Bazaeva^[10]
• Morris Chestnut as Tony Rice (guest star)
• Nikola Đuričko as Tamir Zakayev
• Gershwyn Eustache Jnr as Simon Hardy
• Adnan Hasković as General-President Arsanov
• Eric Godon as older Ivanenko

Production

Music

The score of season 2 concludes with "Until We Go Down" by Ruelle, played during the climax of "The Legend of Alexei Volkov". Prior to this, the song was introduced to television as the opening theme of The Shannara Chronicles.

Episodes

Season 1 (2014)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"Pilot"	David Semel	Television Story by: Howard Gordon & Mark Bomback and Jeffrey Nachmanoff Teleplay by: Mark Bomback and Jeffrey Nachmanoff	August 13, 2014	2.58[11]
2	2	"Chemistry"	Brad Turner	David Wilcox and Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris	August 20, 2014	1.73[12]
3	3	"Lords of War"	Brad Turner	Story by: Josh Pate and Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris Teleplay by: Josh Pate	August 27, 2014	1.76[13]
4	4	"Betrayal"	Deran Sarafian	Story by: Josh Pate & David Wilcox and Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris Teleplay by: Josh Pate & David Wilcox	September 3, 2014	1.74[14]
5	5	"Rogue"	Karen Gaviola	Andrew Wilder	September 10, 2014	1.43[15]
6	6	"Gauntlet"	Brad Turner	Andrew Wilder	September 17, 2014	1.63[16]
7	7	"Quicksand"	Terrence O'Hara	Josh Pate	September 24, 2014	1.45[17]
8	8	"Iconoclast"	John Behring	Geoff Aull	October 1, 2014	1.06[18]
9	9	"Wilderness of Mirrors"	Milan Cheylov	Josh Pate	October 8, 2014	1.08[19]
10	10	"Identity"	Brad Turner	David Wilcox	October 8, 2014	1.08[19]

Season 2 (2015)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
11	1	"The Legend of Dmitry Petrovich"	Jamie Payne	Ken Biller	November 2, 2015	0.68[20]
12	2	"The Legend of Kate Crawford"	Jamie Payne	Raf Green	November 9, 2015	0.48[21]
13	3	"The Legend of Curtis Ballard"	Alrick Riley	Aaron Allen	November 23, 2015	0.58[22]
14	4	"The Legend of Ilyana Zakayeva"	Alrick Riley	Andrew Chapman	November 30, 2015	0.72[23]
15	5	"The Legend of Terrence Graves"	Jon Jones	Matthew Newman	December 7, 2015	0.67[24]
16	6	"The Legend of Tamir Zakayev"	Jon Jones	Chris Levinson	December 14, 2015	0.51[25]
17	7	"The Second Legend of Dmitry Petrovich"	Jeff T. Thomas	Raf Green	December 21, 2015	0.82[26]
18	8	"The Legend of Doku Zakayev"	Jeff T. Thomas	Aaron Allen	December 28, 2015	0.51[27]
19	9	"The Legend of Gabi Miskova"	Ken Biller	Andrew Chapman & Raf Green	December 28, 2015	0.40[27]
20	10	"The Legend of Alexei Volkov"	Ken Biller	Matthew Newman & Ken Biller	December 28, 2015	0.32[27]

Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on 11 November 2015 on FX.^[28]

Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East & North Africa On the 4th of February 2016, BBC First HD started airing the first episode of the second season of the series on OSN (Orbit Showtime Network).

Critical reception

Legends scored 59 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 27 "mixed or average" reviews.^[29] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 56% critics rating with an average rating of 6/10 based on 32 reviews. The website consensus reads: "Legends lacks originality, but derives watchability from Sean Bean's fine central performance".^[30]

Development

TNT announced that with season 2, the show would be ‘’reimagined’’. Gone was the case-of-the-week, and the new focus was on Bean's character's identity,^[31] with most of the original cast being replaced and the initial California setting was replaced for London and continental Europe (Paris and Prague). British veteran TV-directors Jamie Payne ^[32] (Indian Summers, The White Queen, The Hour) and Alrick Riley (Hustle, Spooks/MI-5, CSI) ^[33] we added to the show. Ken Biller (Legend of the Seeker, Perception) became the new showrunner/executive producer/lead writer, and developed a brand new nonlinear storyline taking place in different countries and flashbacks to Bean's character's childhood at a British boarding school and scenes from Prague in 2001.^[34]

Promotion

To promote the series, TNT launched an intensive advertising campaign targeted at social media^[35] beginning at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con.^[36][37] Exploiting Sean Bean's reputation for varied and colorful on-screen deaths,^[38] the campaign centered around the hashtag #DontKillSeanBean, and included Bean's image on airport machinery and pillars, a poster covering multiple floors of a hotel adjoining the SDCC site, and widely distributed black T-shirts emblazoned with the hashtag in white. Producer Howard Gordon tweeted images of celebrities, including Kiefer Sutherland, Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin^[39] and Bean^[37] himself wearing the T-shirt. The ad campaign quickly went viral on social media^[40][41] and became the central focus of publicity done by Bean, including a parody by the website Funny or Die.^[42]

References

1. Goldberg, Lesley (8 May 2013). "Howard Gordon's TNT Drama 'Legends' Gets Series Pickup". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
2. Kondolojy, Amanda (March 14, 2014). "TNT to Roll Out 10 Original Series This Summer Including 'Falling Skies', 'The Last Ship', 'Legends' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
3. "TNT Orders Three Scripted Pilots". The Futon Critic. September 7, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
4. Kondolojy, Amanda (December 4, 2014). "'Legends' Renewed for Second Season by TNT". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
5. "Legends". TNTDrama.com. August 12, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
6. Andreeva, Nellie (December 15, 2015). "‘Public Morals’, ‘Legends’ & ‘Agent X’ Canceled By TNT". Deadline. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
7. Elavsky, Cindy (March 22, 2014). "Celebrity Extra". King Features. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
8. "Sean Bean Stars as an Undercover Agent with One Hell of an Identity Crisis In TNT's Suspenseful New Drama Series Legends". Turner Broadcasting System. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
9. "Legends: Sean Bean Returns in Season Two of TNT Series". TVSeriesFinale. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
10. Legends, 2014-08-13, retrieved 2016-01-19
11. Kondolojy, Amanda (August 14, 2014). "Wednesday Cable Ratings: 'Duck Dynasty' Tops Night + 'Zombie Sharks', 'Spawn of Jaws', 'Teen Mom II' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
12. Bibel, Sara (August 21, 2014). "Wednesday Cable Ratings: 'Teen Mom 2' & Little League World Series Win Night, 'Suits', 'Franklin & Bash', 'Bring It!', 'The Bridge' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
13. Kondolojy, Amanda (August 28, 2014). "Wednesday Cable Ratings: 'Teen Mom 2' Leads Night + 'American Pickers', 'The Daily Show', 'American Restoration' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
14. Bibel, Sara (September 4, 2014). "Wednesday Cable Ratings: 'Teen Mom 2' Wins Night, 'American Pickers', 'Graceland', 'The Bridge', 'Franklin & Bash' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
15. Metcalf, Mitch (September 11, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Wednesday Cable Originals: 9.10.2014". SHOWBUZZDAILY. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
16. Metcalf, Mitch (September 11, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Wednesday Cable Originals: 9.17.2014". SHOWBUZZDAILY. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
17. Metcalf, Mitch (September 25, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Wednesday Cable Originals: 9.24.2014". SHOWBUZZDAILY. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
18. Metcalf, Mitch (October 1, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Wednesday Cable Originals: 10.1.2014". SHOWBUZZDAILY. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
19. Metcalf, Mitch (October 8, 2014). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 25 Wednesday Cable Originals: 10.8.2014". SHOWBUZZDAILY. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
20. Metcalf, Mitch (November 3, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update): 11.2.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
21. Metcalf, Mitch (November 10, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update: 11.9.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
22. Metcalf, Mitch (November 24, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update: 11.23.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
23. Metcalf, Mitch (December 2, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update: 11.30.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
24. Metcalf, Mitch (December 8, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update: 12.7.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
25. Metcalf, Mitch (December 15, 2015). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update: 12.14.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
26. Metcalf, Mitch (December 22, 2015). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update: 12.21.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
27. Metcalf, Mitch (December 30, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Update: 12.28.2015". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
28. Purcell, Charles (6 November 2015). "New This Week (Nov 9): Mr. Robot, Nashville, Legends, Rousey v Holm and live sport". The Green Room. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
29. "Legends: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
30. "Legends: Season 1 (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
31. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/legends-showrunner-promises-a-hard-836095
32. "Jamie Payne". Staff Me Up. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
33. Jessica Evershed. "McKinney Macartney Management Ltd - Matthew Gant". Retrieved 16 December 2015.
34. Michael O'Connell (2 November 2015). "'Legends' Showrunner Promises a Hard Reset for TNT Drama in Season 2". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
35. "#DontKillSeanBean Promotes New Show While Playing on Fan Expectations". Retrieved 16 December 2015.
36. McNamara, Mary (13 August 2014). "Review: TNT's 'Legends' finds Sean Bean keeping his head as master spy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
37. Alter, Charlotte (28 July 2014). "Fans Want Sean Bean to Survive TNT’s Legends With #DontKillSeanBean". Time. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
38. Joest, Mike. "The Many Deaths of Sean Bean". GeekTyrant.com. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
39. LegendsTNT. "Even @GRRMspeaking doesn't". Twitter.com.
40. "Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
41. "Don't Kill Sean Bean". Facebook.com.
42. "Sean Bean Death Scene". Funny Or Die. Retrieved 16 December 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Legends at the Internet Movie Database