Lucky Review: Anya Taylor-Joy’s Badass Crime Series Is The Thrill Ride Of The Summer

"How can someone so small cause so much trouble?" is a question posed in Apple TV's new crime thriller, Lucky, in reference to its petite yet highly capable con artist protagonist. The same could be asked of the show itself, as the limited Apple TV series delivers an adrenaline-fueled, emotional gut-punch of a story in just seven taut, edge-of-your-seat episodes.

Based on Marissa Stapley's Reese's Book Club pick of the same name, Lucky begins with young-and-in-love married couple Luciana "Lucky" Armstrong (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Cary Matheson (Drew Starkey) celebrating in Las Vegas after pulling off a $10 million heist that will allow them to retire from a life of crime permanently. However, when Lucky wakes up to find both Cary and the cash gone, she's forced to go on the run, using every weapon in her outlaw arsenal to avoid capture from both the FBI and the gangsters who want their money back.

Pursuing her are Priscilla Matheson (Annette Bening), Lucky's steely mob leader mother-in-law, and Billie Rand (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), the determined FBI agent who's had Priscilla in her sights for years. Though Lucky's only allies are her smarts and her savvy, she also has her father, John Armstrong (Timothy Olyphant), in her corner, albeit from a prison cell. Before his incarceration, John was a smooth criminal who taught Lucky everything she knows. Though these skills come in handy, Lucky resents being dragged into it in the first place — and her only chance of escape is to dig herself in deeper.

Executive produced by Reese Witherspoon, Lucky has Hello Sunshine's fingerprints all over it as a uniquely female-driven crime thriller about a young woman fighting for control over her own life. From Fiona Apple's gravelly, catchy title track to the final closing credits, Lucky is by far Hello Sunshine's grittiest series to date — and it might just be its best.

Lucky's Jawdroppingly Riveting Action Scenes Are Heart-Pulsing & Heartwrenching

Courtesy of Apple TV

Lucky doesn't waste any time explaining who its characters are or how they got to be this way. The show immediately begins with Lucky suppressing her gut feeling that something is off after her and Cary's con job in order to enjoy a night of dreamy Vegas hedonism with her husband. But when she wakes up the next morning hungover, drugged, and alone in her hotel room, Lucky doesn't have the luxury of processing what just happened; she's in danger, and she has to move.

From there, the show gives a crash course on exactly who the protagonist is as she evades not only Rand and the FBI task force who have descended upon the hotel, but also Priscilla's right-hand henchman, Dutch (Clifton Collins Jr.). As she flees, Lucky proves she isn't all light feet and sticky fingers; she's a master of human psychology, knowing all the right buttons to push and when. By playing the role of damsel in distress to a compassionate truck driver, Lucky successfully escapes the hotel.

Lucky doesn't waste any time explaining who its characters are or how they got to be this way. The show immediately begins with Lucky suppressing her gut feeling that something is off after her and Cary's con job in order to enjoy a night of dreamy Vegas hedonism with her husband. But when she wakes up the next morning hungover, drugged, and alone in her hotel room, Lucky doesn't have the luxury of processing what just happened; she's in danger, and she has to move.

From there, the show gives a crash course on exactly who the protagonist is as she evades not only Rand and the FBI task force who have descended upon the hotel, but also Priscilla's right-hand henchman, Dutch (Clifton Collins Jr.). As she flees, Lucky proves she isn't all light feet and sticky fingers; she's a master of human psychology, knowing all the right buttons to push and when. By playing the role of damsel in distress to a compassionate truck driver, Lucky successfully escapes the hotel.

This entire sequence unfolds over more than 10 adrenaline-fueled minutes, and it's only the first of many extended cat-and-mouse games throughout the series. While each one is bloody, badass, and often fun — the sequence of Lucky raiding a rich lady's wardrobe and lifting a Birkin bag from a child's birthday party is a particular vicarious highlight — the series also shows the emotional toll they take on Lucky. The guilt she shows at stealing a truck from a family who showed her particular kindness is as heartbreaking as the preceding escape is thrilling.

Not every action scene is created equal, though. For my money, a car chase is a car chase, and the one in Lucky proves to be no exception — though its devastating results completely change the game for the main characters. There were also moments where I started to wonder if perhaps Lucky was getting a little too lucky at getting away, but then the story would inevitably take a hard left turn before those thoughts had the opportunity to crystallize.

As a crime thriller series, Lucky doesn't just walk the walk; it talks the talk, and its negotiations and verbal faceoffs are every bit as suspenseful and engrossing as the show's chase scenes. With the right budget, any series can have high-octane spectacle, but what really sets Lucky apart is how much we still want to spend time with these characters after the dust settles.

A Career-Best Anya Taylor-Joy Leads A Spectacular Cast Of Complex-Yet-Cool Criminals

Though the trend of prestige crime dramas featuring morally grey male antiheroes has mercifully died down, with Lucky, Taylor-Joy makes a resounding case for small-screen female protagonists to break bad. Taylor-Joy is predominantly known for her film career, but her rare television projects have yielded tour-de-force performances, notably as an orphan chess wunderkind in The Queen's Gambit, and in Lucky, even more so.

Despite seemingly having nine lives, Lucky is a total underdog, a quality Taylor-Joy easily brings out. Lucky isn't having fun when she breaks the law, even though she looks effortlessly cool and glamorous doing it. Every moment of her life, right up until the point when she wakes up abandoned in her Vegas hotel room, has been determined by men — her father in forcing her to become a criminal and her husband for leaving her.

Lucky knows that she's the mouse in this cat-and-mouse scenario, but she doesn't want to become a cat; she wants to live life on her own terms. Always thrilling, Taylor-Joy is both a joy and heartbreaking to watch, often in the same scene.

Of course, with Lucky being a Hello Sunshine series, Taylor-Joy isn't the only meaty female role. Though she's the clear lead, the story works best when it's a three-hander between Taylor-Joy, Bening, and Ellis-Taylor. As Priscilla, Bening is everything her Dutton Ranch antagonist character failed to become — a villain as vulnerable as she is terrifying. Ellis-Taylor's Rand may be the most sympathetic and likable of the three, but she's also a total badass, at times, even more than Lucky. For as much as these women are adversaries, I found myself rooting for each of them thanks to these incredible performances.

Though the male characters largely serve as obstacles or supportive allies to the core three, Timothy Olyphant shone as Lucky's father, John. John's criminal-first, father-second approach to life should make him absolutely loathsome, especially as his involvement in Lucky's current predicament becomes clearer. However, for most of the series, it's impossible to hate John, and not because Olyphant is exuding his usual megawatt charm. It's plain to see that John loves Lucky, and, like at the root of most grave parenting mistakes, wants to give her a better life than the one he had.

Again, because of these incredible actors, the characters of Lucky are just as entertaining to watch sitting in a room talking as they are chasing and running from each other. In some ways, it's a shame that the series is coming out now, so far away from awards season, but I won't be surprised if it stays burned in voters' memories. With every element of the show firing on all cylinders, Lucky is poised to become as hot as a suitcase full of stolen cash.

The first two episodes of Lucky arrive July 15 on Apple TV, followed by weekly episode releases through August 19.

Release Date July 15, 2026

Network Apple TV

Showrunner Jonathan Tropper, Cassie Pappas, Jonathan van Tulleken

Directors Jet Wilkinson, Jonathan van Tulleken

Writers Jonathan Tropper, Cassie Pappas, Mark Stasenko, Marissa Stapley

Cast

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