Sleeper Cell (TV series)


Sleeper Cell is an American one-hour drama on the Showtime network that began airing on December 4, 2005. The tagline for the first season was "Friends. Neighbors. Husbands. Terrorists." and the tagline for the second season was "Cities. Suburbs. Airports. Targets." The series was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Miniseries. The eight-episode second season of the series, titled Sleeper Cell: American Terror, premiered on December 10, 2006. Both seasons of Sleeper Cell were originally aired in an unusual fashion, by filming the entire season ahead of time and then airing the episodes on consecutive nights, such that each brand new season was aired for the first time over a period of less than two weeks. In Australia, both seasons originally aired on the Showtime Australia channel in 2006/2007. Re-runs as of 2008 have screened on the showcase channel.
As extra material on the first season DVDs reveal, the show was originally named The Cell.

Synopsis

, a 30-year-old American undercover FBI agent who is a Muslim and embracing Islam as his religion, is assigned to infiltrate a terrorist sleeper cell that is planning an attack in Los Angeles. The cell is run by an Arab extremist named Faris al-Farik who disguises himself as a Jew. The members of the cell come from a variety of racial backgrounds and conflicting personalities. The series also portrays the hypocrisy and dichotomy of the cell members who claim to be Muslims but engage in behavior that is sinful in Islam yet they profess a desire to be martyred for Islam.
Darwyn is supervised by FBI senior agent Ray Fuller, also a close friend who worries for Darwyn's safety.
In the second season, Darwyn infiltrates a new cell that has formed to avenge the defeat of the original cell. When his second handler, Patrice Serxner, is killed in Sudan, Darwyn must try to work with yet another handler, Special Agent Russell. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Gayle is drawn deeper into the intrigue when she's caught between Russell, Darwyn and a member of the cell.
The writers once again offered a non-stereotypical mix of cell members, including a white European woman, a Latino-American man and, in a first for American television, a gay Muslim man.

Cast

Season 1

Recurring

Recurring

Writers

Season 1: (2005)

Season one aired from December 4, 2005 to December 18, 2005. The original airdates are listed here for each episode.
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProduction
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Season 2: (2006)

Season two aired from December 10, 2006 to December 17, 2006. There were several cast changes in season two. Thekla Reuten, Omid Abtahi, and Kevin Alejandro joined the main cast as Mina, Salim and Benny, respectively. The original airdates are listed here for each episode.
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProduction
code

2009 broadcast

DirecTV's The 101 Network and DirecTV on Demand began airing the miniseries on January 28, 2009.

Home media

Region 1 DVD

Region 2 DVD

Region 4 DVD