Undercover (2019 TV series)


Undercover is a Belgian-Dutch Dutch-language crime drama television series starring Tom Waes, Anna Drijver and Frank Lammers. The plot revolves around a story inspired by real-life events, where undercover agents infiltrate a drug kingpin's operation in Limburg, a Flemish province bordering the Netherlands. The infiltration is executed by two agents, Bob Lemmens and Kim de Rooij, who are posing as a couple at the campground where the drug kingpin spends his weekends.
It is a co-production between Netflix and public Belgium TV station Eén, and was ordered direct-to-series. The first season premiered on Eén on February 24, 2019, in Belgium; its second season was scheduled for a September 6, 2020 release on Eén. The series began streaming on Netflix on May 3, 2019. It was renewed for a second season which premiered on November 8, 2020. Season 3 premiered in November 2021.

Cast

Season 1

  • Tom Waes as Bob Lemmens
  • Anna Drijver as Kim De Rooij
  • Frank Lammers as Ferry Bouwman
  • Elise Schaap as Danielle Bouwman
  • Raymond Thiry as John Zwart
  • Robbie Cleiren as Marc Gevers
  • Manou Kersting as Nick Janssens
  • Katrien De Ruysscher as Liesbeth Mertens
  • Huub Smit as Dennis de Vries
  • Lieke van den Broek as Sonja van Kamp
  • Sara De Bosschere as Lena Vandekerckhove
  • Kevin Janssens as Jurgen van Kamp
  • Kris Cuppens as Walter Devos
  • Nina Mensch as Jezebel van Kamp
  • Emma Verlinden as Polly Lemmens
  • Warre Verlinden as David Lemmens

Season 2

  • Wim Willaert as Laurent Berger
  • Sebastien Dewaele as Jean-Pierre Berger
  • Ruth Becquart as Nathalie Geudens
  • Celest Henri Cornelis as Jackson Geudens
  • Chris Lomme as Yvet Berger
  • Sarah Vandeursen as Betty
  • Robrecht Vanden Thoren as T-Bone
  • Mourade Zeguendi as Vincent Messaoudi
  • Sanne Samina Hanssen as Lisa

Season 3

  • Nazmiye Oral as Leyla Bulut
  • Murat Seven as Serkan Bulut
  • Gökhan Girginol as Timur Celik
  • Gökhan Kizilbuga as Mehmet
  • Yannick van de Velde as Lars van Marken
  • Wouter Hendrickx as Tanguy Dupont
  • Jeroen van der Ven as Patrick Diericks

Release

The full first season consisting of 10 episodes premiered on Netflix streaming on May 3, 2019.

Reception

Writing for Decider, John Serba gave season 1 a moderately positive review, stating: "It has a generic title and premise, but Undercover has a smidgen of a Euro-backwoods Justified vibe, some subtle comedy and just enough eccentricity in its tone and characters to make it interesting." Ready Steady Cut's Daniel Hart reviewed the second and third seasons, giving both 4 out of 5 stars. He writes about season 2: "Round two of Undercover works. It has the right balance of chemistry between the characters that make an addictive crime thriller." And about season 3: "This Netflix series has made a tense viewing again, standing firm as a formidable dark horse."

Prequels

In May 2021, Netflix released Ferry, a film prequel to the series and, in 2023, Ferry: The Series, an eight-part further prequel. In December 2024, movie Ferry 2 was published.