12 12 12 Apple TV Cast, Characters and Anthony Mackie Heist Series Explained

If a robbery takes a year to plan, can the people behind it really vanish in less than two weeks? That question drives 12 12 12, Apple TV’s upcoming eight-episode heist thriller starring Anthony Mackie as FBI agent Jack Strickland and Jamie Dornan as career criminal Paul Galvin. Their pursuit stretches across Europe, with a vault buried beneath Zurich at the center of the operation.

12 12 12 premieres on Friday, November 13, 2026, exclusively on Apple TV. The first two episodes arrive together, followed by a new episode each Friday until the December 25 finale. Apple released the full official trailer on October 13, 2026. Unlike an ordinary bank-robbery story that follows a single countdown, this series moves between the 12 months before the heist, the 12 hours of the robbery and the 12 days afterward. Here is the confirmed cast, the newly identified characters, the release calendar and what the trailer actually tells us, without pretending the unreleased episodes have already revealed their secrets.

What is 12 12 12 about on Apple TV?

The short answer: A disgraced FBI agent hunts an American career criminal as the two become locked in a dangerous contest around an audacious robbery of a bank vault beneath the streets of Zurich. Apple’s official synopsis describes a pursuit across Europe, but keeps the exact contents of the vault and the deeper reasons for the crime under wraps.

The unusual part is the storytelling. Most heist dramas spend time assembling a crew, build to the break-in and then show the escape. 12 12 12 promises to revisit all three stages repeatedly. In each episode, the audience is meant to see pieces of the planning period, the operation itself and the immediate aftermath. A decision that looks impulsive in the robbery timeline might make more sense after a scene from months earlier. Equally, a seemingly minor preparation detail could turn out to be the reason someone is in danger after the money disappears.

That is a structural promise, not a plot spoiler. Apple has not disclosed the identity of any secret accomplice, the heist’s outcome or whether Strickland ultimately catches Galvin. The official premise establishes the chase and the three clocks; it does not provide a resolution.

If you enjoy mysteries that rearrange when you learn crucial information, our Bodies cast guide explores another timeline-driven series, although its science-fiction investigation is very different from this grounded crime thriller.

12 12 12 Apple TV cast and characters: who plays whom?

Apple’s October press release confirms seven principal performers. Crucially, the Apple TV streaming listing also identifies five character names. That distinction is important: the press announcement mostly describes the leads by profession, whereas the streaming catalog supplies the character credits shown below. Roles for José Garcia and Kali Reis are still unlisted in those primary sources.

Anthony Mackie as Jack Strickland, the FBI agent

Anthony Mackie plays Jack Strickland, the disgraced FBI agent tasked with pursuing Paul Galvin. The term disgraced is part of Apple’s official description, but the company has not explained what happened to Strickland’s career or why this case lands with him. Calling him corrupt, suspended or personally connected to the thief would go beyond what has been confirmed.

Mackie is widely known for portraying Sam Wilson, who takes up the mantle of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also starred in The Hurt Locker, Altered Carbon and Twisted Metal. Those credits make him recognizable across blockbuster action and smaller, character-focused projects. 12 12 12 appears designed to use both strengths: there is a large-scale chase, but the real tension may come from a professional whose judgment is questioned before the investigation even begins.

There is an interesting pressure point built into the role. An investigator needs to reconstruct a crime from evidence, while the audience will be watching selected moments from the criminal’s planning process. The show can let viewers know more than Strickland at one moment and less than him at another. Whether he is chasing a man he understands or a man he consistently misreads remains an open question.

Mackie is also an executive producer. His involvement behind the scenes is confirmed; no official source says that he wrote or directed episodes.

Jamie Dornan as Paul Galvin, the career criminal

Jamie Dornan plays Paul Galvin, the American career criminal at the other end of Strickland’s pursuit. Apple describes Galvin’s criminal career and the European setting but has not said whether this is his first attempt at such a large robbery, who recruited his associates or what he intends to do afterward.

Dornan previously led the crime series The Fall and appeared in Belfast and the Fifty Shades films. Here, he appears opposite an investigator in a story that is less about a single confrontation than about the long lead-up and the frantic consequences. The possibility that Galvin seems composed in one timeline and cornered in another is an especially promising dramatic device, though specific scenes cannot be assigned that meaning without watching the series.

His surname also appears in another confirmed character credit: Bobby Galvin, played by Jack Kesy. The shared name suggests some relationship could exist, but Apple has not officially identified Bobby as Paul’s brother, cousin or any other relative in the materials consulted. A cast guide should make that uncertainty visible rather than decide the answer in advance.

Like Mackie, Dornan is both a lead actor and an executive producer on the series.

Jack Kesy as Bobby Galvin

Jack Kesy is credited as Bobby Galvin on Apple’s streaming page. The release materials also show Kesy alongside Dornan in promotional imagery, indicating that both are part of the same central narrative. What the images do not establish is Bobby’s exact function in the operation: an actor standing next to the thief in publicity is not proof the character participates in the burglary.

Kesy has appeared in 12 Strong, played Black Tom Cassidy in Deadpool 2 and starred in Hellboy: The Crooked Man. He is a useful addition to a suspense-heavy ensemble because viewers may recognize him from action-oriented performances, but the new character’s loyalties are not officially defined yet.

Bobby’s role is a natural question to watch when the first two episodes premiere: is he part of the planning, implicated by the aftermath or connected to Galvin in a more complicated way? For now, the name is confirmed and the relationship is not.

Agathe Rousselle as Severine

French performer Agathe Rousselle plays Severine, according to the Apple TV cast listing. Rousselle gained international attention with her central performance in the film Titane. Her addition gives this predominantly English-language crime drama another distinctive screen presence.

Neither the October trailer announcement nor the publicly available cast page explains Severine’s job, her allegiance or her personal history. That makes her an important character to keep an eye on without writing a fictional biography. A European heist that moves between cities offers many possible places for a character to enter the story, but the official material has not said where Severine first meets the leads.

A good cast guide can therefore answer who plays Severine today, while leaving whether Severine is working with Strickland or Galvin for the episodes themselves.

Sallie Harmsen as Lena

Sallie Harmsen is credited as Lena, another supporting character whose name is available in the Apple TV streaming catalog. Harmsen’s previous credits include Blade Runner 2049 and Dutch-language film and television work. Apple released an individual promotional still of her as part of its August first-look package.

The available announcement does not reveal whether Lena is an investigator, a civilian caught in the crime or someone connected to Galvin. Any such description would be conjecture. With a narrative moving between a year of preparation and two weeks after the robbery, an important supporting character might appear in more than one period, but we cannot establish Lena’s timeline appearances from the promotional synopsis alone.

Readers following other mystery ensembles may also enjoy our Sleeping Dog Netflix cast guide, which covers a different European crime drama and its characters.

José Garcia: character not officially named

José Garcia is a confirmed member of the main ensemble, but Apple’s currently published cast announcement does not assign him a named character. Garcia is known for French cinema, including The Ax, and appears in the Now You See Me franchise. The latter credit creates a fun genre connection because both stories involve elaborate deception, but it is not evidence that Garcia plays a magician or con artist here.

Apple’s publicity materials include a character still featuring Garcia, which tells us he has an on-screen role but not its narrative identity. For readers searching his character’s name, the accurate answer as of October 14 is that it has not been revealed in the primary materials checked.

Kali Reis: character not officially named

Kali Reis rounds out the named principal cast in Apple’s announcement. She is an actor and former professional boxer who received particular attention for her performance in True Detective: Night Country. Her involvement is confirmed, but the official press release does not disclose her 12 12 12 character’s name or which side of the heist she occupies.

The combination of experienced dramatic actors and physical performers may suit the show’s high-pressure action, although that is an interpretation rather than a description of her specific scenes. Until Apple publishes fuller credits, identifying her as an agent, criminal or security specialist would be premature.

What does the title 12 12 12 mean?

The title is the show’s three-part clock: 12 months to plan, 12 hours to carry out the robbery and 12 days of consequences after it. Apple presents these as distinct narrative timelines, not as the number of episodes. The series itself has eight episodes.

In its streaming description, Apple also uses the idea that a thief who is not caught within 12 days may evade capture altogether. Treat that as the premise’s dramatic rule of thumb, not a factual claim about how law enforcement investigations work. There is no universal real-world deadline that makes a robber impossible to catch after twelve days.

The time periods change how suspense can work. The year-long planning window can show how relationships and preparations develop. The twelve-hour crisis compresses mistakes into minutes. The post-heist stretch tests what happens after everyone thinks the hard part is finished. The story can return to the same choice from different perspectives and challenge what viewers believed earlier.

This is also why the numerical title is worth spelling consistently as 12 12 12 rather than searching only for a generic phrase like 12/12/12. The three numbers refer to the heist’s structure, not a calendar date.

Is 12 12 12 based on a true story?

Apple has not described 12 12 12 as a true-crime adaptation or a dramatization of a specific real robbery. The publicly announced premise and credits present it as a scripted crime thriller created by Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble. Zurich is a real financial center, but that does not mean a particular Zurich bank or historical heist inspired the plot.

There is also a difference between a realistic detail and a factual source. A vault under a city, a carefully planned operation and investigators working across borders can make fiction feel authentic without making it nonfiction. If a later interview identifies an inspiration, that would be new reporting rather than something established by the original launch announcement.

For viewers interested in stories that explicitly examine real investigations, our American Nightmare true-story explainer covers a documentary rather than a fictional bank-heist series.

When does 12 12 12 come out? Complete episode schedule

The premiere is November 13, 2026. Apple has announced that Episodes 1 and 2 will debut together, with one new installment released every Friday thereafter. That yields the following schedule, assuming Apple maintains its published weekly plan. Apple has not provided official episode titles in the press materials referenced here.

This is a weekly release, not an eight-episode binge drop. Apple TV is the announced global streaming home. The exact hour when new episodes appear may depend on regional storefront conventions and can be updated by the platform, so viewers should check their local Apple TV listing closer to launch.

Where can you watch 12 12 12? Is it on Netflix?

12 12 12 is an Apple TV original, not a Netflix series. You can find its official show listing in the Apple TV catalog. Apple announced a global premiere, although subscription plans, pricing and app availability vary by country.

The show is labeled TV-MA on Apple’s U.S. listing, which also warns about violence, language and sexual content. That rating is useful for deciding whether it suits a family viewing session, but it is not a review of the series’ quality. The episodes had not premiered when this article was prepared.

There is no announced Netflix launch, and it would be misleading to imply that a Netflix release will follow automatically. The program is part of Apple’s original lineup.

What happens in the official 12 12 12 trailer?

Apple published its full trailer on October 13, 2026, after an earlier first-look announcement in August. The promotion establishes the agent-versus-criminal pairing, the high-value Zurich target and the unusual relationship between the three timeframes. The trailer’s central promise is not only an enormous robbery; it is the idea that escape may be even more difficult than getting into the vault.

The distinction between what is shown and what is confirmed matters. A tense encounter in a trailer does not necessarily occur where viewers think it does in the chronology. Promotional editing often places images and dialogue next to one another for effect. Without the completed episodes, it is not possible to confirm who betrays whom, whether a supporting character survives or who ultimately possesses the money.

The safest way to view the trailer is through the official Apple TV press page or its linked streaming listing. That also avoids misleading clips circulating with fabricated descriptions or unofficial character names.

Who created 12 12 12, and who directs it?

The series was created by Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble, who are also executive producers. Kari Skogland directs multiple episodes, including the pilot, and serves as an executive producer. The producers behind the show include Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content, according to Apple’s October 13 announcement.

Mackie and Dornan executive produce in addition to starring. Apple also names Samantha Corbin-Miller, David Knoller and Jason Spire among the executive producers, with Mackie’s role associated with his Make It With Gravy banner. These credits establish the creative and production team, not hidden connections to the characters they portray.

The pilot director is particularly relevant to a story told across overlapping periods. The first episode will have to teach the audience how to recognize the different timelines without making the structure feel like homework. Skogland’s appointment is a confirmed production detail; conclusions about how she edits or visually separates the periods should wait until the episodes are available.

Why the three-timeline structure could make this heist story different

The central creative challenge for 12 12 12 is that viewers already know a major robbery will happen. The mystery therefore cannot rely entirely on whether Galvin attempts the heist. Instead, the drama can ask how the plan reaches that point, which earlier choices matter, and who remains standing afterward.

Think of the three clocks as three kinds of suspense. During the planning period, viewers look for signs of trust or manipulation. During the twelve-hour robbery, there is a physical objective and immediate danger. In the days afterward, characters have to live with consequences and incomplete information. Moving between the periods allows a revelation in one section to change the meaning of a scene in another.

That reading follows from the narrative device Apple has announced, not from leaked scripts. It is too early to conclude that the show contains a twist villain, a surprise family betrayal or a particular ending. Those theories may be entertaining, but they should not be written into a cast guide as facts.

For readers who want another crime story built around uncovering hidden information, our Fool Me Once Netflix review explores a separate mystery series, with no production connection to Apple’s new drama.

Is 12 12 12 worth watching?

It looks promising for fans of tightly plotted crime thrillers, but a verdict would be premature before November 13. What has been confirmed already gives it a clear identity: a simple title with a precise narrative purpose, two recognizable leads, a well-populated international ensemble and a robbery with consequences that extend beyond the vault.

The biggest reason to be interested is not only the action. It is the opportunity to examine the same people before, during and after an event that changes everything. If the writing uses those different periods to deepen its characters rather than simply withhold answers, the format could feel distinctive. If the show leans too heavily on artificial twists, the same format could become confusing. Neither outcome can be judged from a trailer alone.

For now, the most useful takeaway is straightforward: mark November 13, expect two episodes at launch, and remember that the seven confirmed performers do not yet come with seven fully explained character histories. The series will answer those questions on screen.