The Head
Genre	Mystery Thriller
Created by	David Pastor Àlex Pastor David Troncoso
Directed by	Jorge Dorado
Country of origin	Spain Japan
Original languages	English Danish Swedish
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producers	Ran Tellem Mariano Baselga Laura Fernández Espeso Javier Mendez Bernat Elias
Production locations	Tenerife Canary Islands Iceland
Running time	50+ minutes
Production company	The Mediapro Studio
Original release
Network	HBO Asia
Release	12 June 2020 (2020-06-12) – 22 December 2022 (2022-12-22)

The Head is an English-language Spanish-Japanese psychological thriller television series directed by Jorge Dorado for HBO Asia and Hulu Japan. The first season, set in Antarctica, premiered on 12 June 2020. A second season premiered on 22 December 2022.

Premise

Winter has fallen on the South Pole. The sun will soon disappear for the next six months. A small team, known as the Winterers, will remain at the Polaris VI Antarctic Research Station to continue their innovative research, a crucial part in the fight against climate change, under the command of renowned biologist Arthur Wilde (John Lynch). But when spring comes, summer commander Johan Berg (Alexandre Willaume) returns to the station only to find the entire team are either dead or missing. A killer is on the loose, and Annika (Laura Bach), Johan's wife, is missing. If he wants to find her alive, he will have to trust Maggie (Katharine O'Donnelly), the young doctor who is profoundly shaken and apparently the sole survivor from the group.

Cast and characters

Main

John Lynch as Dr. Arthur Wilde, a famous biologist. 8 years prior to the events of the series, he and Annika discovered a bacterium that feeds on CO₂. On Polaris VI, he continues the research in order to fight climate change. He is a domineering and manipulative character. Although he does not lead the research station, as head scientist he does have some authority over the staff. At first classified as missing, he is another survivor.
Katharine O'Donnelly as Dr. Maggie Mitchell, the station doctor during winter. She is new to Polaris VI with Aki and Heather, and becomes close to Aki. Upon their return, the summer team finds her hiding and afraid as one survivor next to two missing and seven dead team members. She tries to reconstruct the past events while being worn-out physically and mentally. The story she tells leads Johan's search for his wife.^[1]
Alexandre Willaume as Johan Berg (season 1), the station's summer commander. His wife Annika remains in the station during winter and is missing when Johan returns after six months, having lost communications for three weeks. He tries to figure out what happened and find his wife.
Richard Sammel as Erik Osterland (season 1), the winter commander of Polaris VI. He has a military background and tries hard to keep the team safe and together. He has a relationship with Ebba, the station's nurse.^[1]
Tomohisa Yamashita as Aki Kobayashi (main, season 1; guest, season 2), a young, ambitious biologist who works on his PhD. He admires Arthur Wilde and his work and is proud to work for him. Like Maggie and Heather, he is new at the station. Aki and Maggie are very close, and he's protective of her, even more so when the killings begin.^[1]
Laura Bach as Annika Lundqvist (season 1), an ambitious and very dedicated biologist who discovered the bacterium together with Arthur. She remained at Polaris VI because she is determined to work on this crucial research and be acknowledged as well in a world very dominated by men. Upon Johan's return, Annika is missing, and he tries hard to find her.
Álvaro Morte as Ramón Lazaro (season 1), the station cook who has repeatedly returned to the station for many years now. He gets along with the crew, but can also become choleric and aggressive.
Olivia Morris as Rachel Russo (season 2)
Moe Dunford as Alec Kurtz (season 2)
Josefin Neldén as Amy (season 2)
Hovik Keuchkerian as Charlie (season 2)
Sota Fukushi as Yuto (season 2)

Supporting and recurring

Chris Reilly as Nils Hedlund (season 1), the station's Technician who is shown as conflicted, drinking a lot and more and more affected by Polar T3 Syndrome.
Tom Lawrence as Miles Porter, the communications officer and one of the longest serving staff at Polaris VI.
Sandra Andreis as Ebba Ullman (season 1), the station nurse who has spent many winters on Polaris VI already. She misses her kids and her family, but also has an affair with Erik, which is straining on her.^[1]
Amelia Hoy as Heather Blake (season 1), a Computer Officer from Texas who is very athletic and competitive. She is the third newbie on the station, along with Maggie and Aki.
Mónica López as Astrid Casado (season 1)
Hannes Fohlin as Gus (season 1)
Andreas Rothlin as Dr. Micke Karlsson (season 1)
Philippe Jacq as Damian Fowles (season 1)

Production

The series was shot in a set in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, whereas outdoor scenes were shot in Iceland.^[2]^[3]

In October 2021, The Mediapro Studio (detached from HBO Asia and Hulu Japan) reported that they were preparing a second season set in a container ship, directed by Jorge Dorado and written by Mariano Baselga (season 1 executive producer) and Jordi Galceran, with cinematography by David Acereto, with Laura Fernández Espeso, Javier Mendez and Bernat Elias credited as executive producers.^[4]^[5]

International broadcast

The series aired on Hulu Japan, HBO Asia, Canal+, AXN Portugal, and Amazon Video in the summer season 2020.^[6]

In the United States, the series was streamed on HBO Max from 4 February 2021, as a "Max Original".^[7]^[8]

In the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg, streaming started on Starzplay on February 7, 2021.^[9] While in Brazil, it started exclusively on streaming service Globoplay.^[10]

In India, the series is streaming on Hotstar under "HBO Original" label.^[11]