Crossing Lines
Crossing Lines is an international crime drama created by Edward Allen Bernero and Rola Bauer. It follows Carl Hickman (played by William Fichtner), a former New York police officer who is addicted to morphine and working as a garbage collector in the Netherlands. He’s recruited into the International Criminal Court’s fictional Special Crime Unit, based in The Hague, to investigate crimes that cross borders.
The unit brings together experts from around Europe: an anti-organized crime specialist, a covert Italian operative, a German technical expert, a French human-trafficking specialist, a Northern Irish weapons and tactical expert, and a crimes analyst. The show centers on how they work across countries to solve major crimes.
Production and release: Crossing Lines was co-commissioned by France’s TF1 and Sony for AXN. It was Tandem Communications’ first-hour drama. The first season was filmed in Paris, Nice and Prague, with some scenes shot in Prague’s other locations. The series premiered on June 9, 2013 at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, and aired in Italy on Rai 2 starting June 14, 2013, with the US premiere on NBC on June 23, 2013. It ran for three seasons (34 episodes) from 2013 to 2015. Season 1 aired on NBC in the United States; seasons 2 and 3 were shown on TF1/AXN and other platforms. Netflix carried the first two seasons, and Amazon Prime Video in the UK released season 3 in 2014, with all seasons available by 2019.
Reception: Critics praised the European setting and Donald Sutherland’s presence, but many called it a conventional procedural. Some noted that the show misrepresented how the real International Criminal Court works, since the ICC does not have its own police force and relies on member states’ cooperation.
In short, Crossing Lines offered a globe-trotting crime drama with a multinational cast and setting, but it drew mixed reviews and lasted three seasons.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:49 (CET).