12 12 12 Apple TV: Release Date, Cast & Episodes
12 12 12 is Apple TV‘s big new heist thriller, and it arrives with one of the cleanest hooks of the year: a €1 billion bank robbery told across three timelines — 12 months to plan it, 12 hours to pull it off, and 12 days to escape the consequences. The series premieres globally on Friday, 13 November 2026, with the first two episodes dropping together, and it puts Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan on opposite sides of the same vault.
Mackie plays a disgraced FBI agent. Dornan plays the career criminal he is chasing. Between them sits a bank vault buried deep beneath the streets of Zurich — and a plan that took a year to build and twelve hours to execute.
12 12 12 Release Date: When and Where to Watch
12 12 12 premieres on Apple TV on Friday, 13 November 2026, with the first two episodes arriving together. A new episode follows every Friday after that, across eight episodes in total, with the finale scheduled for 25 December 2026 — Christmas Day.
One thing to clear up before Friday: some listings show 12 November as the release date. That is the US Thursday-night drop time. The official global premiere is Friday, 13 November 2026 — that is the date Apple TV has announced, and the date this guide uses throughout.
The series streams exclusively on Apple TV worldwide, so viewers in the US, UK, Canada and Australia all get the same premiere-day drop. It is rated TV-MA.
What Is 12 12 12 About? The €1 Billion Zurich Heist
At the centre of 12 12 12 is a daring raid on a bank vault buried deep beneath Zurich‘s streets, worth €1 billion — told across three timelines that give the series its title: 12 months to plan the heist, 12 hours to pull it off, and 12 days to escape the consequences.
That structure is the show’s real selling point: the planning timeline follows the year-long build-up — crew, surveillance, the vault’s defences; the heist timeline compresses the job into twelve breathless hours; and the escape timeline follows the twelve days after the robbery, when the money is gone and every alliance starts to crack.
Running through all three timelines is a zero-sum cat-and-mouse game across Europe between two men who cannot both win: Jack Strickland, played by Anthony Mackie, a disgraced FBI agent trying to claw his way back, and Paul Galvin, played by Jamie Dornan, an American career criminal who has built his life around jobs exactly like this one. One of them is hunting the other — and the vault sits between them.
The title, then, is the show’s clock. Every episode moves the characters closer to the heist, through it, or away from it — the patience it took, the nerve it demanded, and the price it exacted.

12 12 12 Cast: Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan Lead the Line-Up
The series is built on its two leads, and both men are also executive producers on the show. Anthony Mackie stars as Jack Strickland, the disgraced FBI agent at the centre of the chase — a lawman whose career is already broken, chasing a criminal who may be smarter than he is.
Jamie Dornan stars opposite him as Paul Galvin, the American career criminal behind the Zurich job — a professional thief who treats a €1 billion vault as a problem to be solved, not a dream to be chased.
The face-off between the two is the image Apple TV has led with since the first look arrived in August 2026: Mackie and Dornan standing inches apart on a dark street, neither man backing down — the agent and the criminal, the hunter and the hunted.
The supporting cast — Jack Kesy, Kali Reis, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Agathe Rousselle and Sallie Harmsen, alongside Julius Feldmeier, Miklos Beres and Pit Bukowski — is deliberately international, as the series spans Europe.
12 12 12 Episode Schedule: All 8 Episodes and Release Dates
12 12 12 is an eight-episode series. The first two episodes premiere together on 13 November 2026, and one new episode follows every Friday until the finale on Christmas Day. Here is the full schedule as announced:
| Episode | Title | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Episode 1 | All for a F***ing Betamax, Dad | 13 November 2026 |
| Episode 2 | I Want My Halo Back | 13 November 2026 |
| Episode 3 | To be announced | 20 November 2026 |
| Episode 4 | To be announced | 27 November 2026 |
| Episode 5 | To be announced | 4 December 2026 |
| Episode 6 | To be announced | 11 December 2026 |
| Episode 7 | To be announced | 18 December 2026 |
| Episode 8 (Finale) | To be announced | 25 December 2026 |
Only the first two episode titles have been announced so far; the titles for episodes 3 to 8 have not been revealed yet. Rather than dropping all eight episodes at once, Apple TV is stretching the heist across six weeks, with the finale landing on Christmas Day — a bold slot that suggests real confidence in the ending.
Who Made 12 12 12? Creators, Director and Production
12 12 12 was created by Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble, who also write the series and serve as executive producers. The pilot was directed by Kari Skogland, who is also an executive producer; Ellen Kuras and Takeshi Fukunaga direct other episodes in the season.
The series is produced by Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content, with some listings also naming Skydance Television. Apple acquired the series around two years ago, and production took place in 2025, with filming in Budapest and Sopron in Hungary and in Austin, Texas.
That background shapes the show’s look: night shoots and the cold glow of Zurich after dark, with Skogland’s pilot setting the visual template for a heist series that wants to look like a film.

Heat Meets Ocean’s Eleven? What the Early Buzz Says
Press coverage has consistently reached for the same comparisons: Heat meets James Bond, with the ensemble energy of Ocean’s Eleven. Those are critics’ comparisons, from outlets including ScreenRant, Collider and MovieWeb — not the show’s own claims — but they tell you where Apple TV is positioning the series: a prestige crime drama with the scale of a spy film and the camaraderie of a crew movie.
The Heat comparison is the most telling: a brilliant professional criminal and a driven lawman who understand each other better than anyone else does — and Mackie and Dornan’s face-off is the show’s version of that.
As for reviews, there is nothing to report yet. No reviews had been released as of 6 November 2026, and there is no Rotten Tomatoes score for the series yet — normal for a show premiering on 13 November, with critics’ reactions typically landing in the days around the premiere. Until then, anyone quoting a score for 12 12 12 is inventing one.
What we do have is the official trailer, released on the Apple TV YouTube channel in October 2026. It leans on the same nighttime face-off that has defined the show’s marketing — Mackie and Dornan, inches apart — and confirms the tone: tense, stylish, and built around the question of which man blinks first.
How to Watch 12 12 12 in the US, UK, Canada and Australia
12 12 12 streams exclusively on Apple TV. The premiere is global, so viewers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia all get the first two episodes on the same day — Friday, 13 November 2026 — with new episodes arriving every Friday after that.
Because the release is weekly rather than a full-season drop, the viewing experience is closer to appointment television than to a weekend binge. The first two episodes give you the setup and the first moves of the heist; after that, each Friday brings one more piece of the plan, the job, or the escape. If you would rather watch it all in one go, the date to circle is 25 December 2026, when the finale completes the run.
For viewers in the US and UK in particular, 12 12 12 lands on a crowded Friday — but few of the day’s premieres are built on a premise this clean, or a pairing this strong.
Is 12 12 12 Worth Watching?
With no reviews out yet, the case for 12 12 12 rests on its ingredients — and they are strong. A €1 billion Zurich vault is a high-stakes target. The 12 months / 12 hours / 12 days structure gives the series three different gears instead of one long planning montage followed by a single job. And Anthony Mackie versus Jamie Dornan is exactly the kind of pairing that carries a cat-and-mouse thriller.
The one caution is the same as with any heavily marketed premiere: the Heat and Ocean’s Eleven comparisons set a very high bar, and the show will have to earn them. But on premise, cast and craft alone, 12 12 12 is the most interesting new thriller on Apple TV this month — and the two-episode premiere on 13 November is the place to find out whether it lives up to the pitch.
12 12 12 FAQs
When does 12 12 12 come out on Apple TV?
12 12 12 premieres on Apple TV on Friday, 13 November 2026, with the first two episodes dropping together. New episodes follow every Friday until the finale on 25 December 2026.
How many episodes are in 12 12 12?
There are eight episodes in total. Episodes 1 and 2 premiere on 13 November 2026, and the remaining six release weekly on Fridays through to the finale on Christmas Day, 25 December 2026.
Who stars in 12 12 12?
Anthony Mackie stars as Jack Strickland, a disgraced FBI agent, and Jamie Dornan stars as Paul Galvin, an American career criminal. Both actors are also executive producers on the series. The supporting cast includes Jack Kesy, Kali Reis, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Agathe Rousselle and Sallie Harmsen.
What is 12 12 12 about?
12 12 12 is a heist thriller about a €1 billion robbery of a bank vault buried beneath the streets of Zurich. The story is told across three timelines: 12 months to plan the heist, 12 hours to pull it off, and 12 days to escape the consequences, as disgraced FBI agent Jack Strickland and career criminal Paul Galvin play a zero-sum cat-and-mouse game across Europe.
Why do some websites say 12 12 12 releases on November 12?
Some listings show 12 November 2026 because that is the US Thursday-night drop time. The official global premiere, as announced by Apple TV, is Friday, 13 November 2026. That is the date to use.
So here is the honest summary: 12 12 12 is a heist thriller with a brilliant hook — 12 months to plan, 12 hours to pull off, 12 days to escape — a €1 billion Zurich vault, and two leads in Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan who look born to face each other down. The first two episodes land on Apple TV on Friday, 13 November 2026, with the finale on Christmas Day.
Set a reminder for Friday night — this is the kind of show that rewards watching week to week. While you wait, check out our guide to How to Rob a Bank, the heist film opening in theatres the very same day, and The Take, Netflix’s Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson crime thriller. Series fans should also not miss our VisionQuest guide, another big streaming premiere built for weekly watching.