Nikita is an American action thriller drama television series that aired on the CW from September 9, 2010, to December 27, 2013, in the United States. The series is an adaptation of Luc Besson's French film La Femme Nikita, the second such adaptation after the 1997 Canadian TV series La Femme Nikita.
The series focuses on Nikita (Maggie Q), a woman who escaped from a secret government-funded organization known as "Division" and, after a three-year hiding period, is back to bring down the organization. The main cast in various seasons features Q, Lyndsy Fonseca, Shane West, Aaron Stanford, Melinda Clarke, Xander Berkeley, Noah Bean, Tiffany Hines, Ashton Holmes, Dillon Casey, and Devon Sawa.
Plot The series focuses on Nikita Mears, a woman who escaped from a secret U.S. government-funded organization known as Division, and after spending three years in hiding, is back to bring Division down. Division, created and supervised by an organization called Oversight, is responsible for black operations including espionage, sabotage, and assassination. Under the leadership of its first director and founding member, Percival "Percy" Rose, Division has gone rogue and performs under-the-table murder-for-hire. To protect himself, Percy has created a series of 'black boxes', hard drives containing every job Division has ever done, as leverage to prevent Oversight from removing him or ending Division. Percy's black boxes are hidden in secret locations around the world, under the protection of Guardians, high-ranking Division agents.
Division fills its ranks primarily by recruiting young people with troubled backgrounds, often directly from prison. Division fakes the recruits' deaths, erases all evidence of their past lives, and molds them into efficient spies and assassins. The recruits generally do not have the freedom to leave the agency. Recruits may be "cancelled" (killed) if their progress is deemed unsatisfactory, and to this end, Division implants the recruits with tracking devices and kill chips.
Nikita was recruited by Division when she was a deeply troubled teenager, on death row. Division rescued her, faked her death, and told her she was getting a second chance to start a new life and serve her country. Throughout her grueling training, Nikita never lost her humanity. Once she graduated from recruit to field agent, she broke Division rules by falling in love with a civilian, to whom she became engaged and planned to run away. When Division found out and assassinated Nikita's fiancé, Nikita went rogue. She makes it her mission to bring down Division, as a way to avenge her fiancé and atone for the sins she committed as a Division agent. Percy orders Michael, the Division operative who trained Nikita, to deal with her.
On the outside, Nikita trains a young woman named Alex, who as a child was saved by Nikita during a mission that killed Alex's father years ago. Nikita has Alex become a recruit inside Division, working as a mole to gain intelligence. Throughout season one, Nikita works to disrupt Division's operations, with the support of Alex's intelligence from the inside. Nikita also encounters Gogol, a Russian security department operative and established enemy of Division. Nikita slowly brings other allies to her side, including Michael when he realizes the true extent of Percy's corruption as well as his own feelings for Nikita. At the end of the season, Nikita manages to foil Percy's plan to take over the CIA and gain its top-secret funding. However, she is forced to go on the run with Michael. At the same time, Nikita loses Alex when Alex discovers that Nikita killed her father on the Division mission years ago. When Alex is exposed as Nikita's mole and finds herself at the mercy of Division and Oversight, Amanda offers Alex a deal: help Division stop Nikita, and Division will help Alex bring down the man who ordered the hit on her father.
In season two, Nikita and Michael focus and press their efforts against Oversight, seeking to destroy the group, which will also cripple Division at the same time. Division has changed, with Percy being locked up for his actions in season one, and Amanda taking control of the organization, with Oversight supervising her. Alex has set her sights on Sergei Semak, her father's right-hand man and also the one responsible for ordering his death, who has taken over Zetrov, her father's company and controller of Gogol. Nikita and Michael manage to expose or kill most of Oversight, with the help of Seymour Birkhoff, a former Division head technician, who left the organization after Percy was imprisoned. While trying to bring down Oversight, Nikita and Michael hunt down the remaining black boxes, finally destroying all but one. The final black box has fallen into the hands of Gogol's leader, Ari Tasarov, who is later revealed to be Amanda's lover and exposes her as a traitor. With the help of the last of the Guardians, Percy escapes his prison and manages to overthrow Amanda's control of Division, sending Ari and her into hiding, along with the last black box. Percy also manages to kill all members of Oversight and puts a plan into place to use plutonium to gain membership of an unknown group of powerful people. Having no other choice, Nikita and Michael decide to take the situation to the president, with the help of Ryan, who has been helping Nikita on her mission since season one. Alex reconciles with Nikita, after having finally brought down Semak and restored her father's company. While her allies attempt to stop Percy's most trusted man, Roan, from using the plutonium to blow up Washington, DC, Nikita and Michael infiltrate Division, managing to expose Percy's corruption and evil deeds, ending his leadership over the organization. Percy is killed by Nikita after trying to escape, and Roan is killed by Alex before he could set off the plutonium. The vice president assigns Ryan as the new director of Division and gives Nikita the task of hunting down Amanda and the last of Division's agents who have gone rogue.
Cast and characters
Characters are listed in order of title credit and by appearance on the show.
ActorCharacterSeasons1234Maggie QNikita Mearscolspan="4" Shane WestMichael Bishopcolspan="4" Lyndsy FonsecaAlex Udinovcolspan="4" Aaron StanfordSeymour Birkhoff / Lionel Pellercolspan="4" Ashton HolmesThom colspan="3" Tiffany HinesJaden colspan="3" Melinda ClarkeHelen "Amanda" Collinscolspan="4" Xander BerkeleyPercival "Percy" Rosecolspan="2" colspan="2" Dillon CaseySean Pierce colspan="2" Noah BeanRyan Fletcherstyle="background: #ffdddd" colspan="2" colspan="2" Devon SawaOwen Elliot / Sam Matthewsstyle="background: #ffdddd" colspan="2" colspan="2"
The series borrows many characters, or at least their names, from the 1997 television series La Femme Nikita, which was also based on the French film La Femme Nikita. Maggie Q portrays Nikita, the protagonist and a former spy and assassin who has gone rogue and now plans to bring down Division. Q also performs her own stunts. Shane West plays Michael, a Division operative who trained Nikita. He sees Division and its recruits as a kind of family to him, the complete opposite of Amanda, portrayed by Melinda Clarke, Division's psychologist, interrogator, and a master manipulator. Seymour Birkhoff, Division's computer genius and head technician, is portrayed by Aaron Stanford. The head of Division is Percy, played by Xander Berkeley.
In the season one finale, the audience is introduced to a Senator Madeline Pierce, played by Alberta Watson, who also played the part of Madeline in the former La Femme Nikita television series (Madeline was that series' counterpart to Amanda). Lyndsy Fonseca portrays Alexandra "Alex" Udinov, a former sex slave and drug addict who was arrested after a robbery and later became Division's newest recruit. She is also a mole whom Nikita is using to destroy Division from the inside. Other recruits include Jaden (Tiffany Hines) and Thom (Ashton Holmes) but their characters are later killed off by Nathan (Thad Luckinbill) and Alex respectively. Dillon Casey portrays the role of Sean Pierce, a former Navy SEAL sent to Division directly from Oversight. Noah Bean portrays Ryan Fletcher, an agent in the CIA, but later takes over Division. Some other notable recurring characters include Ari Tasarov (Peter Outerbridge), Sergei Semak (Peter J. Lucas), Roan (Rob Stewart), and Nathan Colville (Thad Luckinbill).
Main Maggie Q as Nikita Mears: The show's central protagonist and titular character, Nikita is a spy and assassin who has vowed to destroy the secret agency that trained her: Division. She is the mentor and close confidant of Alex, and she is a former protege of Amanda. She gains close ties with majority of the people she works with, such as Michael - who eventually becomes her love interest - Seymour Birkhoff, Owen Elliot and Ryan Fletcher. Shane West as Michael Bishop: An ex-Division agent who fell in love with Nikita and joined forces with her to destroy his former employers. Lyndsy Fonseca as Alexandra "Alex" Udinov: The young woman Nikita rescued the night Division killed her family. She trained to destroy Division, and she also seeks revenge against Division for the massacre of her family. She is Amanda's former protege and Nikita's very close friend. Aaron Stanford as Seymour Birkhoff/Lionel Peller: A computer genius, hacker, and nonconformist. Former employee of Division until he sided with Nikita in order to bring order to the underworld of black ops and corrupted crimes. Ashton Holmes as Thom: A Division assassin who was recruited before Alex. Tiffany Hines as Jaden: A Division assassin who was recruited before Alex. Melinda Clarke as Helen "Amanda" Collins: The show's main antagonist in the third and fourth season, Amanda is a master manipulator, interrogator, and psychologist. She is also a former head of Division as well as an enemy and former mentor of Nikita and Alex. Xander Berkeley as Percival "Percy" Rose: The show's main antagonist in the first and second season, Percy is the former head of Division who involves his government access with black market crimes and assassination of powerful people around the world. Dillon Casey as Sean Pierce: A former Navy SEAL hired to keep an eye on Division and the activities that take place. Devon Sawa as Owen Elliot/Sam Matthews: A former Division cleaner and Guardian who turns against the company. Noah Bean as Ryan Fletcher: A former CIA agent and analyst who is a close ally of Nikita. He was appointed the new head of Division in season three to clean up the company's history.
Recurring Rob Stewart as Roan (seasons 1–2): Cleaner of Division and Percy's right-hand man. Peter Outerbridge as Ari Tasarov (seasons 1–3): Former head of GOGOL, a Russian Division counterpart, and Amanda's former love interest. Thad Luckinbill as Nathan Colville (season 1): Alex's neighbor and love interest following her graduation from Division. Alberta Watson as Madeline Pierce (guest star season 1; recurring season 2): A U.S. Senator, former member of Oversight and mother of Sean Pierce. Watson had previously played a similar character, also named Madeline, in the 1997 TV series. Lyndie Greenwood as Sonya (seasons 2–4): The head technician of Division since Birkhoff's leave and former subordinate of Amanda. Helena Mattsson as Cassandra Ovechkin (season 2): Former GOGOL agent and mother of Michael's son, Max. Peter J. Lucas as Sergei Semak (season 2): The CEO of Zetrov and head of GOGOL. Cameron Daddo as Charles Grayson (season 2): The former president of the United States. Michelle Nolden as Kathleen Spencer (seasons 2–4): The vice president of the United States, later succeeded Charles Grayson as president. David S. Lee as Phillip Jones (season 2 & 4; guest season 3): Former CFO of MDK Industries and a high-ranked member of the Invisible Hand.