Person of Interest: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Person of Interest (2011): Action, Crime, Science-Fiction. Series details, synopsis, cast and season dates from TVmaze.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team•Updated September 29, 2026•2 min read•✓ Fact-checked

Editorial graphic for: Person of Interest: Story, Cast and Series Facts — Editorial graphic by Pop Culture Files · not a photograph

Story and premise

You are being watched. The government has a secret system, a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the Machine to detect acts of terror but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people. People like you. Crimes the government considered "irrelevant". They wouldn't act so I decided I would. But I needed a partner. Someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You'll never find us. But victim or perpetrator, if your number is up, we'll find you.

Series details

Title: Person of Interest
Format: Scripted
Language: English
Genres: Action, Crime, Science-Fiction
Premiere date: 2011-09-22
Final broadcast date listed: 2016-06-21
Status in TVmaze: Ended
Network listed by TVmaze: CBS
Network country: United States
Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
TVmaze community rating: 8.8/10
TVMaze ID: 2

Cast and credited roles

Jim Caviezel — John Reese
Michael Emerson — Harold Finch
Kevin Chapman — Lionel Fusco
Taraji P. Henson — Jocelyn "Joss" Carter
Amy Acker — Samantha "Root" Groves
Sarah Shahi — Sameen Shaw
Amy Acker — The Machine

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

Season 1: premiered 2011-09-22; final listed air date 2012-05-17; episode order: 23.
Season 2: premiered 2012-09-27; final listed air date 2013-05-09; episode order: 22.
Season 3: premiered 2013-09-24; final listed air date 2014-05-13; episode order: 23.
Season 4: premiered 2014-09-23; final listed air date 2015-05-05; episode order: 22.
Season 5: premiered 2016-05-03; final listed air date 2016-06-21; episode order: 13.

Source and licence

Adapted from Person of Interest on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.