Hollywood star Melissa Barrera believes there is a lack of engaging and original series on TV these days.
The actress – who is best known for her roles in the rebooted Scream movies, In The Heights and Abigail – says finding a series where viewers are glued to their screens is rare and far and few.
So when a role in the thrilling new espionage drama The Copenhagen Test came calling, Barrera answered.
“We made a really cool show that I think is very entertaining,” she told news.com.au of the Peacock series, which began streaming locally on BINGE this week.
“I think has a lot happening that is not the kind of show that you can be cooking to – you have to be paying attention.”
The 35-year-old believes that a habit of viewers these days is to just play a series in the background while going about their daily activities. But with The Copenhagen Test, she says you are locked into the thought-provoking spy series.
“It’s a show that assumes the audience is smart, which I feel like TV lately is so dumbed down because people are always kind of distracted,” she explained.
“But I feel like shows like Severance are proof that people want to be engaged. People want to figure things out, and I think this is that kind of show.”
In The Copenhagen Test – which has been described as a heart-stopping new series that is part The Bourne Identity and part Minority Report – the actress stars alongside Marvel action hero Simu Liu, who plays intelligence analyst Alexander Hale whose brain is secretly hacked by unknown enemies.
Alexander was stuck at a desk job at The Orphanage, the top-secret spy agency where he works. But after discovering an unknown entity has tapped into his brain and is listening and seeing his every move, he becomes a spy in a race to prove he hasn’t committed treason.
Barrera is cast as his mysterious girlfriend Michelle, a skilled intelligence operative codenamed “Shadowboxer” who is assigned to monitor Alexander after his eyes and ears are compromised.
Michelle is highly skilled and on a mission to keep up the illusion that Alexander hasn’t learned of the hacking, otherwise he is in danger of being taken out.
Starring on the series has fulfilled Barrera’s childhood dream of becoming a spy.
The actress revealed to us that she actually wanted to be a spy when she was younger and even emailed the CIA as a child to ask them for some tips on how to become one.
“I was obsessed with spy shows and I thought that I wanted that life,” she said. “I didn’t know at the time that what I actually wanted was to be an actor and act as a spy, but I think I manifested it from back then.”
“I always wanted to play a spy. I was obsessed with Alias. And so when this opportunity came around [and] I got the first two scripts, I loved it. I thought they were so well written and it was such a cool technological twist to the spy story. And I thought working with Simu Liu … Yes, sign me up.”
The Copenhagen Test is now streaming on BINGE, with all episodes dropping at once. The Copenhagen Test will also be available On Demand with episodes premiering on Showcase.
Originally published as Melissa Barrera thankful for new series The Copenhagen Test after fearing TV has been ‘dumbed down’