Nikita (season 1)
Encyclopedia
The first season of Nikita
, an American television drama based on the French film Nikita (1990), the remake Point of No Return
(1993), and a previous series La Femme Nikita (1997). It aired from September 9, 2010 until May 12, 2011 with a total of 22 episodes. The season finale received a 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
nomination for "Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series".
, Shane West
, Lyndsy Fonseca
, Xander Berkeley
, Tiffany Hines
, Melinda Clarke
, Aaron Stanford
and Ashton Holmes
were all cast to star in Nikita. Devon Sawa
was cast in a recurring role as Owen Elliot. Former president and chairman of Marvel Comics
Stan Lee
made a cameo appearance in the episode "The Guardian" after he and lead actress Q met at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International. In October 2010, Noah Bean
gained a recurring role as Ryan Fletcher.
While presenting its 2010–11 season schedule on May 21, 2010, The CW officially confirmed the pick-up of the series and announced its intention to air Nikita after The Vampire Diaries
on Thursday nights. The pilot episode premiered on September 9, 2010, which drew 3.6 million viewers on its initial broadcast. This rating became The CW's best rating of all-time on Thursdays among women.
In October, 2010, the show was picked up for a full season, which would total 22 episodes.
The CW have admitted they took gambles this year but said they were "thrilled that [it] paid off for us." The season finale aired on May 12, 2011 and was seen by 1.95 viewers. The first season averaged 2.90 million viewers and a 1.1 18–49 rating per episode, ranking 210th in the television season.
is brought from Death row
into Division after a deliberately botched robbery attempt. While inside Division, Alex forges a friendship with Thom, a recruit who has nearly achieved agent-status. Jaden, another recruit, immediately becomes antagonistic towards Alex. She also meets Percy, Division's leader, and Michael
, Nikita's former mentor and romantic interest who now has been training the other recruits.
Alex repeatedly gives Nikita information about Division's operations and assassination attempts, giving Nikita ample opportunity to disrupt them. Not every mission goes as planned however, and Nikita has constant run-ins with her former mentor, Michael. Michael has been told by Percy to kill Nikita on sight, although he frequently shows mild affection towards her by letting her go.
Division quickly begins to believe there is a mole present and begin looking for them and find out that Birkhoff, computers expert, has a transmitter planted in his tooth. After one of Alex's mission go wrong, Nikita is captured by Division but Alex and Nikita plan to escape together. Alex acts quickly and secures a key-card to the armory. She steals a batch of C-4 and plants them around Division. When the explosives go off, Nikita is able to escape through an abandoned silo opening. During the chaos, Thom finds Alex with the key-card and realizes she is the mole. During the fight, the trigger is pulled and Thom is accidentally shot, Alex in grief lets go of her escape plan and stays with Thom. As Thom dies she plants the key-card on him securing herself for being the mole. Afterwards Percy promotes Alex to Field-Agent for killing Nikita's mole.
Now able to live in the outside world, Alex meets her next door neighbor named Nathan, who she forms a close friendship with. Nikita works with Ryan Fletcher, a CIA analyst who agrees to help Nikita after she saves his life, and Owen Elliot, a former Division agent who killed Nikita's fiancé. Nikita sets about finding Division's black boxes, which keep a record of all of their former operations. The boxes are protected by Division's Guardians, agents designated to protect each box. Owen has a black box, which Nikita destroys. She believes destroying the boxes will remove any insurance Division may have. She also faces a new enemy in the form of GOGOL, a Russian
criminal organisation led by Ari Tasarov, who are trying to outdo Division in their operations.
Michael begins to become suspicious of Alex, and after a thorough search, finds Nikita's hideout. After Nikita helps Michael to kill the man who murdered his wife and daughter (revealed to be on Percy's orders), the two begin to work together, making Michael a second double agent
inside Division. With his help, Nikita is able to find and destroy the second black box.
Nikita plans for Alex to escape division because her cover is being compromised but Alex blows it to save Jaden's life at a mission. After Alex and Jaden perform a successful mission together, Jaden secretly hands over a supposedly-destroyed nerve toxin
to Percy, who then promotes her to agent-status for extra effort. After a few days Jaden visits Alex's house and suspects the treasury and they both fight and Nathan accidentally shoots Jaden, Alex asks him to leave town and calls Nikita for help. Amanda finds out through Jaden's cochlear implant that Alex is the mole and Percy blackmails her to draw Nikita into a trap. The trap fails as Alex assures Nikita's survival and so Percy orders Amanda to cancel her. Meanwhile Percy finds out about Michael's connection with Nikita and he is captured, but later Birkhoff lets Michael escape. Nikita foils Percy's attempt to takeover CIA and Ryan is arrested for helping her. Nikita and Michael reunite as Amanda lets Alex go so she could pursue a new life but she goes back to Nikita and so she is captured by Amanda on Oversight's orders (The group of high officials who sanction Division) who now asks her to do her bidding and in return she will help him take over her father's legacy.
. The following year, the series received a nomination for "Favorite TV Drama" in the 37th People's Choice Awards
and nominations for Maggie Q
and Lyndsy Fonseca
performances in the 2011 Teen Choice Awards
. Shane West
was awarded "Choice TV Actor Action" in the ceremony. The season finale received a Primetime Emmy Awards
nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Serie, which result is still pending.
on DVD
and Blu-ray, features all the 22 episodes. It also includes deleted scenes, "Inside Division, Part 1: The New Nikita", "Inside Division, Part 2: Executing an Episode", "Profiling Nikita, Alex, Percy & Michael", audio commentaries and a gag reel as bonus features. The box-set was released on August 30, 2011 in North America, and will be released on September 19, 2011 in Europe and October 26, 2011 in Australia.
In Japan, Itano Tomomi, pop singer and member of the girl group AKB48
, was chosen as the image girl for the DVD release of Nikita by appearing in commercials to promote the product.
Nikita (TV series)
La Femme Nikita is a Canadian action/drama television series based on the French film Nikita by Luc Besson. The series was co-produced by Jay Firestone of Fireworks Entertainment and Warner Brothers. It was adapted for television by Joel Surnow...
, an American television drama based on the French film Nikita (1990), the remake Point of No Return
Point of No Return (film)
Point of No Return is a 1993 American action film directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda. It is a remake of Luc Besson's 1990 film Nikita.-Plot:...
(1993), and a previous series La Femme Nikita (1997). It aired from September 9, 2010 until May 12, 2011 with a total of 22 episodes. The season finale received a 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...
nomination for "Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series".
Starring
- Maggie QMaggie QMargaret Denise Quigley , professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American-born actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the titular character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.-Early life:...
as NikitaNikita (Nikita character)Nikita Meers, better known as Nikita, is the primary protagonist and eponymous character of Nikita, an American action and drama television series, which debuted in September 2010 on The CW Television Network. She is played by American actress Maggie Q... - Lyndsy FonsecaLyndsy FonsecaLyndsy Marie Fonseca is an American actress known for playing Colleen Carlton on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and The Restless, Dylan Mayfair on the ABC series Desperate Housewives, and Ted Mosby's daughter on How I Met Your Mother. She also played Katie Deauxma in the 2010 superhero film...
as Alexandra UdinovAlexandra (Nikita character)Alexandra "Alex" Udinov is one of the main characters of Nikita and the deuteragonist of the show. She is presented in the pilot episode as a drug-addicted teenager when her and her boyfriend Robbie both rob a drug store... - Shane WestShane WestShane West is an American actor, musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter with Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr...
as MichaelMichael (Nikita character)Michael is a main character and the tritagonist of the the CW television series Nikita, portrayed by Shane West. He is the primary romantic interest to Nikita, and was recruited by Percy after the death of his wife and daughter by previous "low-level snitch" Kasim Tariq... - Aaron StanfordAaron StanfordAaron Stanford is an American actor, best known for his role as Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand films, and Doug Bukowski in the 2006 The Hills Have Eyes remake....
as Birkhoff - Ashton HolmesAshton HolmesAshton Holmes is an American film and television actor, best known for the role of Jack Stall in A History of Violence and Private Sidney Phillips in the HBO miniseries The Pacific. He currently appears as Tyler Barrol on the ABC drama series Revenge.-Personal life:Holmes was born in Albany, New...
as Thom - Tiffany HinesTiffany HinesTiffany Hines is an American television actress and singer best known for her role as Michelle Welton on the Fox series Bones and Jaden on The CW's Nikita. She also co-starred in the TeenNick series Beyond the Break as Birdie Scott...
as Jaden - Melinda ClarkeMelinda ClarkeMelinda Patrice Clarke is an American actress who has primarily worked in television. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of our Lives, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper-Nichol on The O.C., and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather on CSI...
as Amanda - Xander BerkeleyXander BerkeleyAlexander Harper "Xander" Berkeley is an American actor. His roles include George Mason on the television series 24.-Early life:Berkeley was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived most of his life in New Jersey...
as Percy
Episodes
| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
U.S. viewers (million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Production and release
During February and March 2010, Maggie QMaggie Q
Margaret Denise Quigley , professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American-born actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the titular character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.-Early life:...
, Shane West
Shane West
Shane West is an American actor, musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter with Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr...
, Lyndsy Fonseca
Lyndsy Fonseca
Lyndsy Marie Fonseca is an American actress known for playing Colleen Carlton on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and The Restless, Dylan Mayfair on the ABC series Desperate Housewives, and Ted Mosby's daughter on How I Met Your Mother. She also played Katie Deauxma in the 2010 superhero film...
, Xander Berkeley
Xander Berkeley
Alexander Harper "Xander" Berkeley is an American actor. His roles include George Mason on the television series 24.-Early life:Berkeley was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived most of his life in New Jersey...
, Tiffany Hines
Tiffany Hines
Tiffany Hines is an American television actress and singer best known for her role as Michelle Welton on the Fox series Bones and Jaden on The CW's Nikita. She also co-starred in the TeenNick series Beyond the Break as Birdie Scott...
, Melinda Clarke
Melinda Clarke
Melinda Patrice Clarke is an American actress who has primarily worked in television. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of our Lives, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper-Nichol on The O.C., and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather on CSI...
, Aaron Stanford
Aaron Stanford
Aaron Stanford is an American actor, best known for his role as Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand films, and Doug Bukowski in the 2006 The Hills Have Eyes remake....
and Ashton Holmes
Ashton Holmes
Ashton Holmes is an American film and television actor, best known for the role of Jack Stall in A History of Violence and Private Sidney Phillips in the HBO miniseries The Pacific. He currently appears as Tyler Barrol on the ABC drama series Revenge.-Personal life:Holmes was born in Albany, New...
were all cast to star in Nikita. Devon Sawa
Devon Sawa
Devon Edward Sawa is a Canadian actor. Although he appears in independent films, he is best known for portraying the part of Alex Browning in the 1999 movie Final Destination...
was cast in a recurring role as Owen Elliot. Former president and chairman of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
made a cameo appearance in the episode "The Guardian" after he and lead actress Q met at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International. In October 2010, Noah Bean
Noah Bean
Noah Bean is an American actor best known for his role as David Connor on the FX legal drama Damages and as Ryan Fletcher on the The CW action series Nikita.-Career:...
gained a recurring role as Ryan Fletcher.
While presenting its 2010–11 season schedule on May 21, 2010, The CW officially confirmed the pick-up of the series and announced its intention to air Nikita after The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries (TV series)
The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW Television Network on September 10, 2009, and is currently in its third season that...
on Thursday nights. The pilot episode premiered on September 9, 2010, which drew 3.6 million viewers on its initial broadcast. This rating became The CW's best rating of all-time on Thursdays among women.
In October, 2010, the show was picked up for a full season, which would total 22 episodes.
The CW have admitted they took gambles this year but said they were "thrilled that [it] paid off for us." The season finale aired on May 12, 2011 and was seen by 1.95 viewers. The first season averaged 2.90 million viewers and a 1.1 18–49 rating per episode, ranking 210th in the television season.
Plot
The first season begins as AlexAlexandra (Nikita character)
Alexandra "Alex" Udinov is one of the main characters of Nikita and the deuteragonist of the show. She is presented in the pilot episode as a drug-addicted teenager when her and her boyfriend Robbie both rob a drug store...
is brought from Death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
into Division after a deliberately botched robbery attempt. While inside Division, Alex forges a friendship with Thom, a recruit who has nearly achieved agent-status. Jaden, another recruit, immediately becomes antagonistic towards Alex. She also meets Percy, Division's leader, and Michael
Michael (Nikita character)
Michael is a main character and the tritagonist of the the CW television series Nikita, portrayed by Shane West. He is the primary romantic interest to Nikita, and was recruited by Percy after the death of his wife and daughter by previous "low-level snitch" Kasim Tariq...
, Nikita's former mentor and romantic interest who now has been training the other recruits.
Alex repeatedly gives Nikita information about Division's operations and assassination attempts, giving Nikita ample opportunity to disrupt them. Not every mission goes as planned however, and Nikita has constant run-ins with her former mentor, Michael. Michael has been told by Percy to kill Nikita on sight, although he frequently shows mild affection towards her by letting her go.
Division quickly begins to believe there is a mole present and begin looking for them and find out that Birkhoff, computers expert, has a transmitter planted in his tooth. After one of Alex's mission go wrong, Nikita is captured by Division but Alex and Nikita plan to escape together. Alex acts quickly and secures a key-card to the armory. She steals a batch of C-4 and plants them around Division. When the explosives go off, Nikita is able to escape through an abandoned silo opening. During the chaos, Thom finds Alex with the key-card and realizes she is the mole. During the fight, the trigger is pulled and Thom is accidentally shot, Alex in grief lets go of her escape plan and stays with Thom. As Thom dies she plants the key-card on him securing herself for being the mole. Afterwards Percy promotes Alex to Field-Agent for killing Nikita's mole.
Now able to live in the outside world, Alex meets her next door neighbor named Nathan, who she forms a close friendship with. Nikita works with Ryan Fletcher, a CIA analyst who agrees to help Nikita after she saves his life, and Owen Elliot, a former Division agent who killed Nikita's fiancé. Nikita sets about finding Division's black boxes, which keep a record of all of their former operations. The boxes are protected by Division's Guardians, agents designated to protect each box. Owen has a black box, which Nikita destroys. She believes destroying the boxes will remove any insurance Division may have. She also faces a new enemy in the form of GOGOL, a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
criminal organisation led by Ari Tasarov, who are trying to outdo Division in their operations.
Michael begins to become suspicious of Alex, and after a thorough search, finds Nikita's hideout. After Nikita helps Michael to kill the man who murdered his wife and daughter (revealed to be on Percy's orders), the two begin to work together, making Michael a second double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
inside Division. With his help, Nikita is able to find and destroy the second black box.
Nikita plans for Alex to escape division because her cover is being compromised but Alex blows it to save Jaden's life at a mission. After Alex and Jaden perform a successful mission together, Jaden secretly hands over a supposedly-destroyed nerve toxin
Toxin
A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded...
to Percy, who then promotes her to agent-status for extra effort. After a few days Jaden visits Alex's house and suspects the treasury and they both fight and Nathan accidentally shoots Jaden, Alex asks him to leave town and calls Nikita for help. Amanda finds out through Jaden's cochlear implant that Alex is the mole and Percy blackmails her to draw Nikita into a trap. The trap fails as Alex assures Nikita's survival and so Percy orders Amanda to cancel her. Meanwhile Percy finds out about Michael's connection with Nikita and he is captured, but later Birkhoff lets Michael escape. Nikita foils Percy's attempt to takeover CIA and Ryan is arrested for helping her. Nikita and Michael reunite as Amanda lets Alex go so she could pursue a new life but she goes back to Nikita and so she is captured by Amanda on Oversight's orders (The group of high officials who sanction Division) who now asks her to do her bidding and in return she will help him take over her father's legacy.
Accolades
The first season of Nikita received a total of seven awards nominations. In 2010, the episode "Pilot" received a nomination in the category "Best Cinematography in Episodic TV Series" in the American Society of CinematographersAmerican Society of Cinematographers
The American Society of Cinematographers is an educational, cultural, and professional organization. It is not a labor union, and it is not a guild. Membership is by invitation and is extended only to directors of photography and special effects experts with distinguished credits in the film...
. The following year, the series received a nomination for "Favorite TV Drama" in the 37th People's Choice Awards
37th People's Choice Awards
The 37th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2010, were held on January 5, 2011 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and were broadcast live on CBS at 9:00 pm ET...
and nominations for Maggie Q
Maggie Q
Margaret Denise Quigley , professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American-born actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the titular character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.-Early life:...
and Lyndsy Fonseca
Lyndsy Fonseca
Lyndsy Marie Fonseca is an American actress known for playing Colleen Carlton on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and The Restless, Dylan Mayfair on the ABC series Desperate Housewives, and Ted Mosby's daughter on How I Met Your Mother. She also played Katie Deauxma in the 2010 superhero film...
performances in the 2011 Teen Choice Awards
2011 Teen Choice Awards
The 2011 Teen Choice Awards hosted by Kaley Cuoco aired live on August 7, 2011 at 8/7c on Fox. This was the first time that the ceremonies were aired live since the 2007 show...
. Shane West
Shane West
Shane West is an American actor, musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter with Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr...
was awarded "Choice TV Actor Action" in the ceremony. The season finale received a Primetime Emmy Awards
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...
nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Serie, which result is still pending.
Media release
The first season of Nikita, distributed by Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray, features all the 22 episodes. It also includes deleted scenes, "Inside Division, Part 1: The New Nikita", "Inside Division, Part 2: Executing an Episode", "Profiling Nikita, Alex, Percy & Michael", audio commentaries and a gag reel as bonus features. The box-set was released on August 30, 2011 in North America, and will be released on September 19, 2011 in Europe and October 26, 2011 in Australia.
In Japan, Itano Tomomi, pop singer and member of the girl group AKB48
AKB48
AKB48 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto.The group has achieved enormous popularity in Japan. Its ten latest consecutive singles topped the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart...
, was chosen as the image girl for the DVD release of Nikita by appearing in commercials to promote the product.