Leverage follows a five-person team: a thief, a grifter, a hacker, a hitter, and a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who use their skills to carry out heists to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.
Season 1 consists of 13 episodes, which writers John Rogers and Chris Downey and producer Dean Devlin intended to be a complete story should the series not be renewed.
[13] A 16-episode revival titled Leverage: Redemption began shooting in early August 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana, with most cast members returning.
Nathan "Nate" Ford is a former insurance investigator known for recovering millions of dollars in stolen property and chasing the most dangerous and elusive thieves in the world.
Nate's son, who was ill, died after IYS, the insurance company he'd spent his career working for, used questionable ethics to deny coverage of a treatment necessary to save the child's life.
Nate initially disagrees, as the thieves all have reputations for being loners who do not cooperate with others; they include hacker Alec Hardison, 'hitter' Eliot Spencer, and a thief known only as "Parker".
Instead of fleeing, Nate persuades the team to retaliate, and further recruits the assistance of Sophie Deveraux, a formidable grifter, to put Dubenich out of business.
Under Nate's leadership, the group coalesces into a very effective unit, succeeding in ruining Dubenich's business, clearing their names, and providing each thief enough money to retire from crime.
Forced to choose between being a "white knight" and the "black king," Nate accepts on one condition: they will only target the corrupt and powerful to avenge ordinary people who have no other recourse.
Additional subplots include Nate's struggle with alcoholism, his complicated relationship with Sophie, and the budding romance between Hardison and Parker.
Eliot's past in the military is also a recurring theme, involving kindred soldiers who have returned from war, old enemies from his missions encountered during their jobs, and a case set in his hometown.
Season 1 also establishes several running gags, including Eliot's numerous hidden talents, Hardison and Parker receiving cover IDs as FBI agents in organized crime, and Sophie's inability to act unless she's breaking the law.
The team operates with impunity as "Leverage Consulting & Associates", until the season finale, in which Nate's former colleague, James Sterling, begins pursuing them on behalf of IYS.
As season 3 begins, Ford is in prison and the team attempts to free him, until a mysterious Italian woman blackmails them into bankrupting the untouchable criminal Damien Moreau.
The team spends several jobs targeting known associates of Moreau in an effort to get closer to him, even learning that Eliot used to work for him at one point.
Most episodes follow a set story structure: After meeting the client, the Leverage team researches the villains to find a weakness to exploit.
These flashbacks, which are featured in most episodes, sometimes reveal only in retrospect that an earlier scene was actually a clue to the Leverage team's plan.
[28] The series ranks as ad-supported cable's #1 entertainment program in the Tuesday 10 pm (ET/PT) time slot among viewers, households, and adults 25–54.
The December 7, 2008, premiere was watched by 5.6 million viewers and scored TNT's best original series telecast ever in delivery of adults 18–49 during the regular broadcast season.
[34] Reviewing the shows's first two episodes, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Leverage is "shrewdly conceived, and it moves along like a son of a gun".
[35] Robert Bianco of USA Today felt that Leverage "seems to owe more to other movies and shows than it does to real life", pointing specifically to The Sting and Mission: Impossible as obvious sources of inspiration, but concluded: "at least it's paying its debt in an entertaining fashion."
Bianco felt that "Leverage does get overly busy at times (simpler camera work would help)", but also that Hutton "supplies the charisma the show needs to succeed and the weight to keep it grounded".
"[40] Reviewing the season 5 premiere, David Hinckley of the New York Daily News felt it was "business as usual" for the show, but still "cool, fast-paced and thoroughly pleasant".
[60] In the game, whether or not they play the actual characters on the show, the players are expected to take on one of the five roles within the Leverage team: Grifter, Hitter, Hacker, Mastermind, or Thief.
Noah Wyle headlines the series as a new character with original cast members Beth Riesgraf, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane and Aldis Hodge set to reprise their roles.
Aldis Hodge returns as Hardison in spots, but his appearances were limited because of his shooting schedule for City on a Hill, Black Adam and Cross.