Check mate: JK Simmons and his two lead roles in Counterpart

When you think of secret agents and heroes, you think suave, debonair, sophisticated, styled in a tailored suit and with the ability to turn any object into a deadly weapon.

Now press the delete button in your head for all of that – here’s the one hero you need to know about on streaming service Showmax: Howard Silk in spy thriller Counterpart (2018-current).

“I loved this character long before I even got to the part of the script where I realised that there were two versions of him,” explains JK to SyFy Wire. The 63-year-old’s character is a quiet, unassuming, no-frills United Nations staffer who’s been at their Berlin branch for 30 years.

But his “lowly” job is a lot as an interface employee is a lot more specialised and secret than even Howard realises.

“It was daunting after speaking to the producers. There are two versions of Howard and that was daunting, it meant a lot of hours at the office. We had that conversation very early on and I was told that it’s a very complex, very involved espionage spy thriller. How could I say no?” says the actor.

Now here’s the kicker: there are two worlds – a regular Earth called Alpha Earth and a parallel planet called Prime Earth. They’re almost identical and everyone human and animal (and everything in-between) has their own counterpart.

For Howard, his counterpart is the exact opposite – Howard Prime is a secret agent. You remember that stuff we spoke about earlier? Suave gunslinger who does undercover stuff? That!

“I viewed this from Howard Earth’s position, because he is the main guy. Then I started with the Prime and his perspective and it became a very mano-a-mano rivalry for the two.”

The problem for Howard 1 and Howard 2 is that their worlds are diverging… but they’re still linked. Howard Prime often crosses over into Howard Alpha’s homeworld for his missions. Prime works for Section 2, a secret group within the UN agency that Alpha works for but that Alpha Howard is totally unaware of.

The more they’re in the same world, the closer they’re becoming, and that could throw a spanner into the works for Howard Alpha.

“I had this visceral realisation while reading the script. I read the first one, then the second one, then the first Howard again and thought – wow, this will be fun!” adds JK. And clearly he did have fun, because Season 2 is on the way.

But what is it about Howard Alpha and the man portraying him that make them so good their jobs?

Who, me?

They’re both unassuming men. JK is getting on in years. Other than his signature bald head, he’s not much to look at or take note of.

And he’s more often than not been the supporting actor instead of the lead. Howard Alpha is the same, says the actor: “You could say that he hasn’t lived up to his potential. He’s just gone along with the flow and done what he’s paid to do, day in, day out. He’s the same as everyone but at the same time, he isn’t.”

Move it, move it!

People sometimes need a reason to do the things they do. And both JK and Howard Alpha have that motivation in abundance.

For the actor, he was asked to get into shape to play Police Commissioner Gordon in the Justice League movie in 2017 – despite wearing a suit and trench coat in every scene, JK was sporting serious guns under there after gruelling gym workouts.

And for Howard, his wife Emily (Olivia Williams) is in a coma and he wants to protect the world for her.

Fool me once, shame on you

JK is the first to admit that he’s had some surprising roles.

“I got my SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card for being naked in a Michael Douglas movie – Wall Street (1987). They phoned me up and I said okay and I wasn’t listening and for my next role, at least I wasn’t naked.”

And Howard Alpha is in a similar situation. He knows who he is – a UN staffer – but he doesn’t know that he’s being lied to every day by the woman he loves, says JK: “Emily Alpha is also a spy and has been used as a contact by Howard Prime for years.

“Emily Alpha, who is still married to Howard on this side, has been in a coma since Alexander Pope engineered an attack on her. Howard Prime has developed romantic feelings for her, even though she isn’t really his wife, and has taken it upon himself to protect her at all costs.”