Jennifer Carpenter previously played an FBI agent in the short-lived series Limitless (2015). In an amusing coincidence, Sophia Gennusa, who plays Shepherd's daughter Hannah, played a younger version of Carpenter in "Hi, My Name Is Rebecca Harris (2016)".
The name of the villain of the story Mikhail Tal is the name of the Soviet Chess Grandmaster Mikhail Tal who was the Chess world champion 1960 - 1961.