The series Covert Affairs ran for five seasons on USA Network, from 2010-2014. The series came from co-creators/co-writers Chris Ord & Matt Corman (Daredevil: Born Again) and executive producer Doug Liman (Suits, Edge of Tomorrow, Road House (2024)).

Annie Walker (Piper Perabo, Yellowstone, Coyote Ugly) is a brilliant 28-year-old CIA trainee, who can speak 6 languages and has broken several training records. She is pulled from the Farm a month early, and brought to Langley to become a field operative in the Domestic Protection Division (DPD) of the CIA, where she’s been assigned to handler Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham, Sherriff County, Ugly Betty, Jake 2.0), a tech operative who was blinded during his military/special ops service, but shows know signs of being limited in his skills. Running the DPD is senior operative Joan Campbell (Kari Matchett, The Hunting Party, Invasion). Campbell’s husband Arthur (Peter Gallagher, The O.C.) is the Director of Clandestine Services, so there’s a bit of an odd work/life balance and power dynamic for the couple, but they’re working through it. The CIA actually encourages dating within the organization as it can be tough to maintain relationships when you aren’t allowed to discuss your work with your significant other.

Annie is immediately thrust into the field, and finds herself literally under fire on day one. But she’s quick on her feet, and along with the support of Auggie and the rest of the team, she knows she can do this job. However, Annie doesn’t like the idea of keeping the truth about her job from her supportive sister Danielle (Anne Dudek, Corporate, Mad Men), and possibly putting her in danger. Also newly assigned to the DPD is Jai Wilcox (Sendhil Ramamurthy, Heroes), an operative whose father Henry (Gregory Itzin, 24) was the former CIA Director. Arthur has secretly assigned Wilcox to watch over Annie for some undisclosed reason.

Covert Affairs was released during USA Network’s “Characters Welcome” era, and the series definitely has a focus on the characters, spending just as much time exploring the lives and relationships of these characters both inside and outside of work. The writers do an excellent job of blending these grounded character moments with exciting, action-packed spy missions both domestic and around the globe. There is also a mix of cases of the week and longer season-long arcs with many unexpected twists and turns.

Here’s a brief rundown of the five seasons:

• In the first season (11 episodes, 2010), brilliant CIA trainee Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) is promoted to field operative a month shy of her graduation. She is assigned to the Domestic Protection Division (DPD) under senior operative Joan Campbell (Kari Matchett), whose husband Arthur (Peter Gallagher) is the Director of Clandestine Services. Helping on her missions is handler Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham), a tech operative who was blinded during his military/special ops service. Newly assigned to the DPD is Jai (Sendhil Ramamurthy), whose father was the disgraced former CIA Director. Arthur has secretly tasked him with watching over Annie for some unspecified (to the viewer) reason. Some of the recurring characters include Annie’s sister Danielle (Anne Dudek); Mossad operative Eyal Lavin (Oded Fehr, The Mummy), who occasionally teams up with Annie; FBI agent Vincent Rossabi (Noam Jenkins) who often butts heads with Annie; Annie’s ex-boyfriend Ben Mercer (Eion Bailey), who didn’t reveal his true identity before ghosting Annie; and mysterious journalist Liza Hearn (Emmanuelle Vaugier).
• In the second season (16 episodes, 2011), Annie continues to take on a variety of new missions all around the globe. She ultimately decides to let her sister know what she really does, but almost immediately gets her into danger. Meanwhile, Auggie finds love with Parker (Devin Kelley), but also wrestles with the idea of when/if he should reveal the fact that he works for the CIA. Some of the recurring characters this season include Arthur Campbell’s ex-wife Gina (Rena Sofer), ER physician Dr. Scott Weiss (Ben Lawson), and former analyst Reva Kline (Jaimie Alexander, Blindspot). Guest stars include Santiago Cabrera, Tim Guinee, Rebecca Mader, Benito Martinez, Peter Stormare & Tony Curran.
• As the third season (16 episodes, 2012) opens, an agent is killed, which shakes things up at the CIA. Auggie gets reassigned as the new head of the OSP, while Annie is transferred out of the DPD under new boss Lena Smith (Sarah Clarke, 24). Annie is tasked with tailing venture capitalist/suspected master spy Simon Fischer (Richard Coyle, Coupling). A new recurring character this season is DPD therapist Suzanne Wilkins (Daniella Alonso). Some of the other guests include Brendan Hines, Haaz Sleiman and Tovah Feldshuh.
• As the fourth season (16 episodes, 2013) opens, Annie and Auggie explore their new relationship and go on an off-book mission together to Colombia, where they cross paths with Medellin station chief Calder Michaels (Hill Harper, The Good Doctor, CSI: NY), and Teo Braga (Manolo Cardona, Narcos)—a mysterious man with a connection to Arthur. Meanwhile, Arthur can’t hide a secret any longer and resigns from his post, which is filled by Joan; Calder heads to the DPD; and Henry Wilcox wages a personal war on the CIA. Guests this season include Michelle Ryan.
• In the fifth season (16 episodes, 2014)
  Annie returns from 4 months of being off-the-grid and wants to return to work with Auggie as her handler. However when Khalid is found again on U.S. soil, she’s sent to the Chicago office to help pursue him, but soon disaster strikes. Meanwhile, Ryan McQuaid (Nic Bishop, Truth Be Told, Body of Proof), the owner of a private security firm trying to hire Arthur Campbell hits on Annie, and Auggie falls for Hayley Price (Amy Jo Johnson), the NCTC official who’s investigating a bombing. When Annie’s heart condition comes to light, she discovers that she me need to leave the CIA if she wants to continue to remain in the field. Some of the recurring characters this season include Ryan McQuaid’s assistant Caitlyn Cook (Perrey Reeves), and Auggie’s military friend James Decker (Kenny Johnson).

Covert Affairs is a thoroughly-entertaining series that finds this perfect blend of action, drama, and even a bit of humor. I had forgotten just how great this show was until I sat down and started binging it again. It’s the type of show that you can either watch just one episode at time, enjoying the latest action-packed mission, or binge through the longer character and story arcs. The cast is wonderful—Piper Perabo and Chris Gorham are fantastic, and have such great chemistry with one another. A lot of shows do the will they/won’t they thing, but I didn’t get that immediately with Annie and Auggie. I like their partnership at the beginning of the series, which is fun and supportive. Even though the show does try to put the two together at one point, we ultimately return to the old friend dynamic and it doesn’t feel like we’ve missed a beat. Over the course of the series we see these two in several different relationships, and how the job can be a toll on those. There is also an interesting exploration of this with longtime couple/co-workers Joan and Arthur. Another thing I loved about the show is how Auggie’s disability never slows him down, and he’s got all kinds of cool gadgets to help him do his job unhindered. He’s also the one who’s constantly joking around about himself.

The series also has some amazing and exciting action sequences that often feel feature-film level. Even with all the character drama, the series still remains very action forward with lots of exciting twists and turns in the mission of the week. The stakes also feel very real. This is a dangerous job and anyone could be killed at any moment. This is something that weighs heavily on the characters, especially Annie after she witnesses this head on.

The fifth season closes in what ultimately feels like a solid conclusion for the characters, rather than leaving fans on an abrupt cliffhanger, like several of the previous seasons. So the makers of the series must have had some notion that the show would not be getting a sixth season.

Universal had previously released the individual seasons of Covert Affairs on DVD as it originally aired, but now fans can own the series in HD for the first time in this new Complete Series Blu-ray box set. We were sent the release for review from AV Entertainment, and were quite impressed with it. The video presentation looks nearly flawless, with clean, crisp and stunning picture that captures everything with amazing clarity and detail. Colors are also bright and beautiful, and darker scenes also look excellent. I can’t imagine the show looking any better. Dialogue is clear throughout, and the audio track makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to provide an immersive experience. There is also hours and hours of bonus material (all ported over from the previous DVDs), including a trio of audio commentaries on first season episodes, some prequel shorts about Auggie’s character, many deleted/alternate scenes, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, gag reels, and more.

Each season is packed in its own standard-sized Blu-ray keepcase, with swinging trays for the discs (each containing 3-4 episodes). The five keepcases are placed in a large outer cardboard box.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (42:14:21)

Blu-ray:
• All 5 seasons/75 episodes of the series on 19 discs.
  • Season 1 (2010) – 11 episodes: (8:12:27)
    Disc 1 (3:14:02): “Pilot”, “Walter’s Walk”, “South Bound Suarez”, “No Quarter”
    Disc 2 (2:49:37): “In the Light”, “Houses of the Holy”, “Communication Breakdown”, “What Is and What Should Never Be”
    Disc 3 (2:08:48): “Fool in the Rain”, “I Can’t Quit You Baby”, “When the Levee Breaks”
  • Season 2 (2011) – 16 episodes: (11:22:01)
    Disc 1 (2:50:32): “Begin the Begin”, “Good Advices”, “Bang and Blame”, “All the Right Friends”
    Disc 2 (2:50:13): “Around the Sun”, “The Outsiders”, “Half a World Away”, “Welcome to the Occupation”
    Disc 3 (2:51:06): “Sad Professor”, “World Leader Pretend”, “The Wake-Up Bomb”, “Uberlin”
    Disc 4 (2:50:10): “A Girl Like You”, “Horse to Water”, “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”, “Letter Never Sent”
  • Season 3 (2012) – 16 episodes: (11:21:08)
    Disc 1 (2:50:03): “Hang on to Yourself”, “Sound and Vision”, “The Last Thing You Should Do”, “Speed of Life”
    Disc 2 (2:50:28): “This Is Not America”, “Hello Stranger”, “Loving the Alien”, “Glass Spider”
    Disc 3 (2:50:01): “Suffragette City”, “Let’s Dance”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”, “Wishful Beginnings”
    Disc 4 (2:50:36): “Man in the Middle”, “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”, “Quicksand”, “Lady Stardust”
  • Season 4 (2013) – 16 episodes: (11:18:45)
    Disc 1 (2:48:20): “Vamos”, “Dig For Fire”, “Into the White”, “Rock A My Soul”
    Disc 2 (2:50:35): “Here Comes Your Man”, “Space (I Believe In)”, “Crackity Jones”, “I’ve Been Waiting for You”
    Disc 3 (2:49:29): “Hang Wire”, “Levitate Me”, “Dead”, “Something Against You”
    Disc 4 (2:50:41): “No. 13 Baby”, “River Euphrates”, “There Goes My Gun”, “Trompe Le Monde”
  • Season 5 (2014) – 16 episodes: (11:18:34)
    Disc 1 (2:51:36): “Shady Lane”, “False Skorpion”, “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence”, “Silence Kit”
    Disc 2 (2:47:48): “Elevate Me Later”, “Embassy Row”, “Brink of the Clouds”, “Grounded”
    Disc 3 (2:49:26): “Spit on a Stranger”, “Sensitive Euro Man”, “Trigger Cut”, “Starlings of the Slipstream”
    Disc 4 (2:49:44): “She Believes”, “Transport is Arranged”, “Frontwards”, “Gold Soundz”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:
The bonus material is the same as what appeared on the previous DVD releases of each season. Many of the first season featurettes look like they have been upscaled as the picture clarity isn’t quite as clear as the show itself.

• Season 1:
  • Commentaries
    The cast and crew provide fun and informative commentaries on 3 of the season’s episodes. They share lots of interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the production.
    • “Pilot” (1:05:14)
      Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, executive producer Doug Liman, creators/writers Matt Corman & Chris Ord
    • “Communication Breakdown” (43:00)
      Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, executive producers Doug Liman & Dave Bartis, creators/writers Matt Corman & Chris Ord
    • “When the Levee Breaks” (42:55)
      Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, executive producer Dave Bartis, creators/writers Matt Corman & Chris Ord
  • Deleted Scenes (18:51)
    Collection of 27 deleted scenes across 6 of season’s episodes.
    • “Walter’s Walk” (4:20) – 7 scenes
    • “South Bound Suarez” (:45) – 1 scene
    • “No Quarter” (1:03) – 1 scene
    • “Houses of the Holy” (3:50) – 8 scenes
    • “What Is and What Should Never Be” (3:28) – 4 scenes
    • “Fool in the Rain” (5:25) – 7 scenes
  • Gag Reel (2:20)
    Fun with the cast as they miss marks, flub and forget lines, and have fun on set.
  • Welcome to the Farm (13:39)
    The cast and crew discuss how the show came about, casting the series, te challenges of having a blind character, the relationship between Annie and Auggie, the characters, working with director Doug Liman, the action sequences, keeping the characters grounded, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with co-creators/co-writers Chris Ord & Matt Corman, executive producers Doug Liman & Dave Bartis, executive producer/co-writer James D. Parriott, and stars Piper Perabo (“Annie Walker”), Christopher Gorham (“Auggie Anderson”), Sendhil Ramamurthy (“Jai Wilcox”), Kari Matchett (“Joan Campbell”) & Peter Gallagher (“Arthur Campbell”).
  • Blind Insight (4:01)
    The cast and crew discuss the character of Auggie Anderson, the real-life inspiration behind him, and the research that went into playing a bland person. Includes interviews with stars Christopher Gorham & Piper Perabo, and co-creator/co-writer Chris Ord.
  • Set Tour (13:51)
    Star Sendhil Ramamurthy and co-creator/co-writer Matt Corman give viewers a our of the DPD and other sets such as Annie’s sister’s home.
  • Celebrate the ADA (:37)
    Christopher Gorham AAPD PSA promo.
• Season 2:
  • Deleted Scenes (11:22)
    Collection of 13 deleted/alternate scenes across 8 episodes.
    • “Good Advices” (1:21) – 1 scene
    • “Around the Sun” (1:15) – 1 scene
    • “Half a World Away” (1:20) – 2 scenes
    • “Sad Professor” (1:12) – 1 scene
    • “World Leader Pretend” (4:54) – 5 scenes
    • “Uberlin” (:53) – 1 scene
    • “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” (1:25) – 1 scene
    • “Letter Never Sent” (1:02) – 1 scene
  • Gag Reel (2:17)
    Fun with the cast as they flub and forget lines, make each other laugh, and have fun on set.
  • Piper Perabo Comic-Con Intro (2:51)
    Annie receives a polygraph test about her time at San Diego Comic-Con.
  • Covert Affairs on Location (16:54)
    Star Chris Gorham provides behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew while filming on location abroad. Those interviewed include actors Rebecca Mader (“Franka”), Piper Perabo, Anne Dudek (“Danielle”), Peter Gallagher & Nina Kronjäger (“Elsa”), producer Gene Klein, director Félix Enríquez Alcalá, director of photography Jamie Barber, director/producer Stephen Kay, vfx supervisor Chevy Chen, co-creator/executive producer Matt Corman, executive producer Doug Liman & vfx supervisor/int. filming coordinator Elan Dassani. Play All, or select from:
    • Istanbul (6:41)
    • Stockholm (3:19)
    • Berlin (3:10)
    • Venice (3:43)
• Season 3:
  • Deleted Scenes (1:21)
    Collection of 6 deleted scenes from across 4 episodes. Select from:
    • “Hang on to Yourself” (1:21) – 2 scenes
    • “This Is Not America” (:44) – 1 scene
    • “Loving the Alien” (1:45) – 1 scene
    • “Lady Stardust” (1:24) – 2 scenes
  • Sights Unseen: A Covert Affairs Prequel (19:48)
    This prequel series of shorts follows tech-ops handler Auggie Anderson in his early days at the agency. He is assigned to reckless young agent Garrett Miller (played by Benjamin Nathan-Serio). Play All, or select rom:
    • Part One (4:11)
    • Part Two (6:01)
    • Part Three (4:23)
    • Part Four (3:23)
    • Part Five (4:06)
• Season 4:
  • Deleted Scenes (11:10)
    Collection of 15 deleted scenes across 8 episodes. Select from:
    • “Vamos” (:46) – 1 scene
    • “Into the White” (1:46) – 1 scene
    • “Here Comes Your Man” (2:35) – 2 scenes
    • “Levitate Me” (:59) – 2 scenes
    • “Dead” (3:13) – 5 scenes
    • “No. 13 Baby” (1:39) – 1 scene
    • “There Goes My Gun” (1:03) – 1 scene
    • “Trompe Le Monde” (1:09) – 2 scenes
  • Gag Reel (3:35)
    Fun with the cast as they flub and forget lines, make each other laugh, and have fun on set.
  • Action Reel (4:31)
    Montage of action-packed clips from the season.
  • Sights Unseen: Auggie Undercover: A Covert Affairs Prequel (22:09)
    Auggie Anderson tells Calder Michaels about a time in the summer of 2006 when he was working with Joan to break in a valuable asset, a skilled hacker named Natasha Petrovna (Liane Balaban), in hopes she could lead them to Olympus X. Play All, or select rom:
    • Episode One (3:21)
    • Episode Two (4:18)
    • Episode Three (3:47)
    • Episode Four (3:05)
    • Episode Five (3:32)
    • Episode Six (3:55)
• Season 5:
  • Deleted Scenes (4:27)
    Collection of 6 deleted scenes across 5 episodes. Select from:
    • “Sensitive Euro Man” (:57) – 1 scene
    • “Trigger Cut” (:46) – 1 scene
    • “Transport is Arranged” (1:11) – 2 scenes
    • “Frontwards” (:48) – 1 scene
    • “Gold Soundz” (:45) – 1 scene
  • Gag Reel (5:47)
    One final dose of fun with the cast as they flub and forget lines, make each other laugh, and have fun on set.

Final Thoughts:

Covert Affairs still holds up quite well 15 years later. The series does an excellent job of blending character drama with exciting action-packed spy missions. Episodes not only work on their own, but also serve longer season-long story arcs. Universal’s Blu-ray presentation looks and sounds phenomenal, and ports over all of the bonus material from the previous DVD releases. This is certainly worth picking up for any fan of the cast/series.