Director: Bijan Mirbagheri
Cast: Bahador Zamani, Mahdi Zaminpardaz, Payam Ahmadinia, Bahar Ghasemi, Siavash Gorjestani
Algorithm is a 2025 Iranian drama-crime series directed by Bijan Mirbagheri, built around the world of covert power and strategic manipulation. With a chess metaphor at its core, the show follows unseen forces that move people like pieces on a board, exploring loyalty, betrayal, and the cost of ambition across a tightly wound, 45-minute-episode format.
What is Algorithm about?
In a world of shifting alliances and hidden agendas, those who believe they control the game rarely understand who is truly pulling the strings. The series centers on a group of individuals caught inside a web of power that operates far above their station. Each episode pushes its characters toward decisions they cannot undo, as the architecture of control tightens around them. Loyalties fracture under pressure, and what appeared to be opportunity turns out to be a carefully constructed trap. The deeper the protagonists move into the system, the more dangerous their position becomes — until survival itself demands a transformation none of them anticipated.
Cast & crew
Director Bijan Mirbagheri leads an ensemble that includes Bahador Zamani and Mahdi Zaminpardaz in central roles, with supporting work from Payam Ahmadinia, Bahar Ghasemi, Siavash Gorjestani, Mehdi Alipour, Mohsen Ghasabian, and Amirkave Ahaninjan. The cast draws from Iran's contemporary television and film circuit, bringing familiarity and weight to their respective roles across the series.
Context & significance
Iranian crime and political drama has matured considerably over the past decade, moving away from conventional storytelling toward layered narratives that reflect the pressures of modern urban life. Algorithm sits squarely in this tradition, using the language of chess strategy to comment on systems of power that ordinary people rarely see. For diaspora viewers, the series offers a window into contemporary Iranian production values and the kind of tightly scripted genre television that has found a growing audience globally. The chess framing gives the show a universally legible metaphor while keeping its roots distinctly Persian in tone, cadence, and character dynamic. Fans of Iranian serials who appreciate sharp plotting and morally complex protagonists will find the rhythm familiar and the stakes engaging.
Where & how to watch
Algorithm is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. You can watch it on the web, your TV, or your phone — no geo-blocking, no VPN required. Start or pause your subscription anytime.