A star rating of 3 out of 5.
Anya Taylor-Joy’s CV is peppered with underdogs and outsiders. She’s played a chess prodigy with a substance abuse disorder in The Queen’s Gambit and a Wasteland warrior in Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga. And, once again, the actor is in her element in the Apple TV crime thriller Lucky.
Co-created by Jonathan Tropper (Your Friends and Neighbors) and based on the bestselling book by Marissa Stapley, the seven-part series centres on Taylor-Joy’s Luciana ‘Lucky’ Armstrong, a criminal you can’t help but root for.
While other kids were learning algebra, Lucky was being taught the art of the swindle by her now-incarcerated father, John (played with roguish charm by Timothy Olyphant).
His unconventional parenting appears to have paid off when Lucky and her husband Cary (Drew Starkey) pocket $10 million from a fossil fuel scam. They take off to Las Vegas to celebrate, but after waking following a wild night of drinking and gambling, a sore head is the least of her problems. Through bleary eyes, she discovers Cary – and every cent of their loot – has vanished.
Has the scammer been scammed? Is her husband in trouble? Or worse? Lucky’s not the only one gunning for answers. FBI Agent Billie Rand (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) is chasing the pair, while Cary’s crime boss mother Priscilla (Annette Bening) is also keen to know where the money and her darling boy have gone (roughly in that order).
The cons, car chases and chaos aside, the show is at its strongest when it fully commits to exploring familial ties and asks the question: what happens when the person who is meant to protect you is actually the architect of your downfall?
In this case, it’s Lucky’s relationship with her father. That dynamic is the emotional core of the show and is largely explored through flashbacks and, in the present, through sporadic phone calls to his daughter from prison during which John dispenses nuggets of wisdom like, “Trust no one”. It’s in these quieter, more grounded moments that Taylor-Joy truly shines.
Sadly, Lucky’s starry cast and Apple TV’s glossy production values aren’t enough to elevate this beyond perfectly serviceable viewing. Despite their relationship being the show’s key, Tropper’s plot keeps Lucky and John apart for much of the series, while Priscilla’s fraught relationship with Cary – a son who has never lived up to his mother’s expectations – is left frustratingly underdeveloped.
Ultimately, Lucky never quite adds up to more than the sum of its impressive parts.
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Lucky will premiere on Apple TV on 15 July 2026.
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Authors
Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
