| Genre: | Thriller Action |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Creator: | Ethan Reiff Cyrus Voris |
| Starring: | Michael Ealy Oded Fehr Henri Lubatti Melissa Sagemiller |
| Country: | United States |
| Network: | Showtime |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 18 |
Sleeper Cell is an American television drama series 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 (part of the Showtime Australia group of channels).
As extra material on the first season DVDs reveal, the show was originally named The Cell.
Darwyn Al-Sayeed, 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 (e.g. sex outside marriage) 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.
See also: List of Sleeper Cell characters.
| Actor | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Darwyn al-Sayeed (Alias: Darwyn al-Hakim) | ||
| Faris "Farik" al-Farik / Saad bin Safwan | ||
| Henri Lubatti | Ilija Korjenić | |
| Christian Aumont | ||
| Thomas "Tommy" Allen Emerson | ||
| Gayle Bishop |
| Actor | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Darwyn al-Sayeed (Alias: Darwyn al-Hakim) | ||
| Faris "Farik" al-Farik | ||
| Henri Lubatti | Ilija Korjenić | |
| Salim | ||
| Benito 'Benny' Velasquez | ||
| Mina | ||
| Gayle Bishop |
Season one aired from December 4, 2005 to December 18, 2005. The original airdates (U.S.) are listed here for each episode.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code[2] |
|---|
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 (U.S.) are listed here for each episode.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|
| DVD Name | Release Date | of episodes | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleeper Cell | March 14, 2006 | 10 | The entire first season of Sleeper Cell was released as a widescreen three-disc Region 1 DVD box set in the U.S. on March 14, 2006. It was distributed by Showtime Entertainment. In addition to all the episodes that had aired, it included several DVD extras such as episode commentaries by executive producers Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, behind-the-scenes footage and making-of features as well as deleted scenes with optional commentary. |
| Sleeper Cell: American Terror - The Complete Second Season | March 20, 2007 | 8 | The entire second season of Sleeper Cell: American Terror was released as a three-disc Region 1 DVD box set in the U.S. on March 20, 2007. The box for the DVD mistakenly lists the Season 1 cast on the back. |