Prime Video’s #1 Action Thriller Series Deserves a Renewal

2 weeks ago 11

Published Aug 7, 2026, 9:14 PM EDT

Dyah (pronounced Dee-yah) is a Senior Author at Collider, responsible for both writing and transcription duties. She joined the website in 2022 as a Resource Writer before stepping into her current role in April 2023. As a Senior Author, she writes Features and Lists covering TV, music, and movies, making her a true Jill of all trades. In addition to her writing, Dyah also serves as an interview transcriber, primarily for events such as San Diego Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival.

Dyah graduated from Satya Wacana Christian University in October 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, concentrating on Creative Writing. She is currently completing her Master's degree in English Literature Studies, with a thesis on intersectionality in postcolonial-feminist studies in Asian literary works, and is expected to graduate in 2026.

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Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for the Ride or Die Season 1 finale.

If the Ride or Die Season 1 finale proved anything, it's that Judith (Hannah Waddingham) and Debbie's (Octavia Spencer) story is far from over. While most of Prime Video's action thrillers, like Reacher and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, have been dominated by male leads, Ride or Die carves out a new niche with not just one, but two butt-kicking female BFFs at the center. They might come from different worlds, but they both know exactly what to do when things go sideways — with or without each other.

Unlike most male action heroes, who tend to work alone, the real selling point of Ride or Die is the friendship between Judith and Debbie. With Season 1 wrapping up with one plot twist after another, Ride or Die has plenty of potential story left. Having left their former lives as an assassin and an MP's wife, Judith and Debbie plan on rediscovering themselves — but as the shocking finale reveals, they're not completely off the hook just yet.

What Is 'Ride or Die' About?

In Ride or Die, assassin-for-hire Judith (Waddingham) is excellent at what she does: killing targets. Despite her impressive success rate, the mysterious organization she works for, known as the Agency, is fed up with her refusal to follow orders, especially those from her handler, Sam (Calam Lynch). Threatened with forced resignation, Judith is given one final assignment to prove she deserves to stay: kill Billy Donovan (Ed Skrein), a criminal middleman with ties to the Albanian mob. When Judith finally tracks Billy down at one of his money-laundering charity events, she instead finds Debbie's husband, David (Jamie Parker), seemingly dead in Billy's hotel room.

Worse still, Debbie has no idea that Judith is an assassin and believes she works as an accountant. With David clearly in danger, Debbie is likely next. Judith is finally forced to tell Debbie the truth about her profession, but there's no time for Debbie to process it. Hunted by the Albanian mob, federal authorities, the Agency, and another assassin with a personal grudge against Judith, the women are swept into a death-defying road trip across Europe as they search for answers while trying to recover the £24 million that David apparently owed the Albanian mob.

'Ride or Die's Season 1 Finale Leaves Judith and Debbie's Story Open for More

In the Ride or Die Season 1 finale, Judith and Debbie's friendship appears to hit rock bottom when Judith's rival assassin, Ana (Sylvia Hoeks), finally puts her revenge plan into motion. Instead of simply killing Judith, Ana plays Judith's secret tapes for Debbie, making it seem as if their friendship was nothing more than the perfect cover. The plan works at first, but while searching for Judith, Debbie discovers keepsakes that prove Judith's feelings for her were always genuine. Debbie eventually finds Judith nearly suffocating in her old training facility and rescues her just as Ana tries to run them down with a car. During the ensuing chase, Ana drives off a cliff, and the car explodes, killing her.

The nightmare seems to be over, but the Ride or Die finale has one last twist. The last scene shows Debbie boarding a train alone before spotting a ridiculously disguised Judith sitting across from her. While Debbie plans to spend two weeks on the road, Judith will visit Cambodia to figure out who she is outside of being an assassin. However, the closing moments reveal multiple armed assassins disguised as ordinary staff and passengers — some speaking Japanese and Russian — hinting that a larger organization than the Agency wants Judith dead.

'Ride or Die' Season 2 Could Explore the Agency More Deeply After 1 Major Twist

Savannah Steyn and Calam Lynch in 'Ride or Die'

The Ride or Die finale sets up an equally shocking subplot involving Queenie (Savannah Steyn). Early in the season, Queenie is working alongside her mother, Diane (Cathy Tyson), who supplies elite operatives like Judith with high-tech gadgets and fake passports. Knowing Diane is Judith's closest ally, Ana kills her behind Judith's back. Queenie is devastated, but what angers her most isn't Diane's death — it's that the Agency's Director (Bill Nighy) had the chance to stop Ana and chose not to. At the mortuary, Queenie confronts him as he views Diane's body, only for him to warn her not to act recklessly.

There's a reason the emotionally detached Director has a soft spot for Diane and Queenie. After Diane's death, Queenie discovers documents in a storage unit revealing another major twist: the Director is her father. Meanwhile, after Sam fakes Judith's death in preparation to leave the Agency, the Director convinces him to stay by revealing that Queenie has become the Agency's newest assassin, with Sam — who clearly has feelings for her — now assigned as her handler. However, there's one more twist: Queenie is secretly working as a double agent, feeding intelligence to federal agents Jacques (Jacky Ido) and Colette (Camille Chamoux). Suddenly, the seemingly untouchable Agency isn't so invincible anymore, giving Ride or Die Season 2 the perfect opportunity to expose the organization's darkest secrets.