Person of Interest (2011)
Person of Interest is a 2011 drama series created by Jonathan Nolan. It stars Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson and Kevin Chapman.
John Reese, a former CIA operative the world believes dead, drifts through New York until a reclusive billionaire named Harold Finch recruits him. Finch built a machine for the government that predicts violent crime, and it keeps handing them the identities of ordinary people days before disaster strikes. The two intervene quietly, outside the law, never sure whether their number is victim or perpetrator. Created by Jonathan Nolan, the series starts as a procedural and grows into a sharp argument about mass surveillance, artificial intelligence, and who gets to watch. Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson lead.
Quick answers
What is Person of Interest about?
John Reese, a former CIA operative the world believes dead, drifts through New York until a reclusive billionaire named Harold Finch recruits him. Finch built a machine for the government that predicts violent crime, and it keeps handing them the identities of ordinary people days before disaster strikes. The two intervene quietly, outside the law, never sure whether their number is victim or perpetrator. Created by Jonathan Nolan, the series starts as a procedural and grows into a sharp argument about mass surveillance, artificial intelligence, and who gets to watch. Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson lead.
When was Person of Interest released?
Person of Interest was released on 22 September 2011.
How many episodes does Person of Interest have?
Person of Interest has 103 episodes across 5 seasons.
Who made Person of Interest?
Person of Interest was created by Jonathan Nolan.
Where can I watch Person of Interest?
Person of Interest is available on Prime Video, Google Play, Amazon, AppleTV and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch Person of Interest
Stream: Prime Video
Rent: Google Play
Buy: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Google Play
Cast
- Jim Caviezel as John Reese
- Michael Emerson as Harold Finch
- Kevin Chapman as Lionel Fusco
- Taraji P. Henson as Joss Carter
- Amy Acker as Root
- Sarah Shahi as Sameen Shaw
- John Nolan as John Greer
- Enrico Colantoni as Carl Elias
- Robert John Burke as Patrick Simmons
- Al Sapienza as Raymond Terney
- Boris McGiver as George Hersh
- David Valcin as Scarface
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Person of Interest in our writing
- Companion guide: Conspiracy Thrillers
- Companion guide: Cyberpunk & Dystopia
- Companion guide: Dystopian Societies
- Companion guide: Hacking & Cybercrime
A few thoughts on Person of Interest
The game Watch Dogs drops you inside a city run by one all-seeing system, closer to Finch's Machine than anything else on a console. For the show's deeper question, whether a built mind can grow a conscience, NieR: Automata turns android soldiers into a long meditation on the same idea.
Artificial minds that start asking who they really are
The Machine watches every life in New York without a body or a face, and these push that same intelligence into a body of its own. Ex Machina traps an AI inside a locked-room test of consciousness, Blade Runner: Black Lotus follows an android piecing together a stolen memory, NieR: Automata sends fighting machines into an existential crisis, and Silent Möbius pits cyborg police against machines built in humanity's image.
Surveillance networks that decide who's dangerous before they act
Finch's Machine predicts violent crime days before it happens, deciding who's a threat from data alone. Watch Dogs turns a city's surveillance grid into a weapon a hacker can point at anyone, The Capture shows how manipulated footage can frame an innocent person, Condor follows an analyst hunted by his own agency, and Continuum and Intelligence both wire their leads into networks that watch everyone.
Cyberpunk police units built around a machine partner
Finch and Reese work like a two-man version of a much bigger surveillance network, and these put a similar machine on the beat. Almost Human pairs a detective with an android partner built to think, A.D. Police patrols a cyberpunk city where rogue machines are the real threat, Patlabor sends police pilots into giant mechs to police other mechs, and Class of '09 tracks how artificial intelligence reshapes the FBI.
Vigilantes who break the law to protect people who never asked for help
Reese and Finch intervene before a crime happens, working entirely outside the system that's supposed to stop it. The Equalizer follows a retired operative doing the same quiet rescue work for strangers, Marvel's Daredevil patrols Hell's Kitchen by night because the courts alone can't reach it, Watchmen puts masked vigilantism at the center of an entire alternate America, and Gotham traces the corrupt city that eventually produces its outside-the-law protector.