Richard Armitage in Strike Back: Origins: Coming to U.S.

Stateside fans of the British action drama Strike Back have a treat coming: the actual first series of the program, which stars Richard Armitage.

Strike Back follows the operatives of MI-6’s Section 20 and their high-risk missions. Of the first three series — Chris Ryan’s Strike Back, Strike Back: Project Dawn, and Strike Back: Vengeance — only the latter two, co-produced by Cinemax, have aired on the pay cable channel in the U.S. as Seasons One and Two.

So, stateside viewers haven’t had the full backstory on John Porter, played by Richard Armitage (MI-5, North & South). But that’s about to change. Cinemax is bringing Chris Ryan’s Strike Back to this side of the pond this Fall as a prequel under the new title Strike Back: Origins.

It’s in Strike Back: Origins that former Special Air Service (SAS) soldier Porter makes his “first” appearance to U.S. audiences. In the opener, he’s been out of the SAS for seven years, but his service is reactivated for the rescue of kidnapped journalist Katie Dartmouth (Orla Brady, Fringe, Mistresses) from terrorists in Iraq.

Costarring in the six episodes are Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead, Afterlife) as Section 20 head Hugh Collinson, and Jodhi May (Emma, Einstein and Eddington) as Section 20 officer Layla Thompson. Others in the cast include Colin Salmon (Arrow), Shelley Conn (Terra Nova), and Cal Macaninch (Wild at Heart).

The fourth series — Strike Back: Shadow Warfare — is currently airing as Season 3 on Cinemax, and will premiere on Sky 1 in the UK later this Fall.

Cinemax will premiere Strike Back: Origins on Friday, 25 October, at 10PM Eastern.

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