Sinclair Daniel and Mark O’Brien on ‘The Copenhagen Test’: ‘The show is propulsive’

The Copenhagen Test is a futuristic espionage thriller in which the brain of an intelligence agent, Alexander Hale (Simu Liu) is hacked.

Hale works as an analyst in The Orphanage, a watchdog for other spy agencies. When he discovers his brain is hacked, he agrees with his bosses to use the hack to discover who is behind it.  

Sinclair Daniel, who plays an intelligence analyst tracking Hale, over speaks to us over a video call from New York. “My character spends a lot of time in the control room, surrounded by technology that you see in the real world including, laptops, iPads, and phones,” he says.

However, Sinclair says that the screens on many of the devices were blank. “When you’re already imagining that the phone is ringing, it is not that much of a stretch to imagine that somebody’s brain is hacked,” the 28-year-old actor says, laughing.

Sinclair adds, “We are already in the imaginary space of technology being at its highest form. So, when someone says, ‘We’re going to take it up a notch,’ it comes quite naturally.”

Tonal shift

Mark O’Brien plays a CIA agent determined to bring Hale down. “My character doesn’t deal with that quite so much,” Mark (41) says over a video call from Los Angeles. “He sees something amiss, something wrong.”

Sinclair Daniel in ‘The Copenhagen Test’
| Photo Credit:
Peacock

The tone of a show, Mark says, will naturally find its way into the performance. “There is a certain vibe to the show, an inexplicable aspect that becomes the nature of the way you are going to perform on that series or that movie.”

The atmosphere aided the performances. “Even with the wardrobe and the sets, there was a certain sci-fi vibe to everything, and that all coalesces into what you’re doing,” he says.

Tech spy vibes

James Wan, creator of The Conjuring universe, is one of the producers of The Copenhagen Test. He describes the series as techno-espionage. “The Copenhagen Test has a certain propulsive nature. There is a lot on the line for everybody in the series,” he says.

Mark adds, “The stakes are quite high, and balancing thriller sequences with emotional depth feels natural. There is always a threat. That makes it a little bit easier when you’re doing a thriller.”

Sinclair feels that the script did an impressive job of making sure every episode had its own climax. “Every time you turn on the show, there’s a new obstacle that is time sensitive, and you are always moving towards that,” he says.

Moving ahead

It might relate to the main obstacle, Sinclair says, with many small mountains in pursuit of the big mountain. “It feels like you are being propelled forward the whole time. We didn’t have much of a chance to settle down.”

Mark O’Brien as Cobb in ‘The Copenhagen Test’
| Photo Credit:
Peacock

Mark, who had a lot more outdoor scenes than Sinclair, says, “It was so cold. There was a scene where I’m outside with Adina Porter (who plays Marlowe, the Director of Intelligence at the Orphanage) and I remember it being so cold that our lips were freezing. You couldn’t hear what we were saying because we were not able to enunciate very well in the cold. We had to do wild lines later, which is when you record the audio after you have filmed the scene. That was a huge challenge, but other than that, it was a treat.”

“Luckily, I was inside the whole time and can’t relate to that,” Sinclair chimes in. “I had quite a few scenes, where I was by myself. It was a cerebral experience doing the thinking and discovery scenes. Sometimes those are challenging, especially when there isn’t another person there to help you work through that discovery. I grew quite fond of them, though. It was like a new muscle to flex.”

The Copenhagen Test is currently streaming on Jio Hotstar

Published – February 16, 2026 11:02 am IST