I definitely saw quite a bit of buildup for Apple TV’s new limited series Lucky, which hit the streamer in July and ratcheted up the tension over seven episodes. Perhaps the premise was pulling people in, feeling like a crime thriller with a little bit of a survival vibe thrown in for good measure, or it could be the fact that Anya Taylor-Joy just feels very much of the moment right now. I wish she was a little bit more of the moment, because it’s possible more people would have seen Furiosa if that were true. But she is popular enough to bring attention to Lucky, this seven-episode series that also features a stacked cast led by Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Clifton Collins Jr., William Fichtner, and Drew Starkey. I’ve seen interviews where Anya discusses picking Drew after seeing his performance in Queer, the A24 Daniel Craig-led film in which Starkey was one of the supporting players. You truly never know who’s going to watch what film and push for you to be cast, because there’s nothing necessarily similar about the character Drew plays here, Cary, but Anya clearly saw something and felt like she had to have him.

The series revolves around Lucky, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, and her marriage to Cary, as well as the fact that they just stole $10 million. They did this together, stealing from somebody they shouldn’t have, with the belief that they would be moving forward together. That is until, of course, Cary betrays Lucky and dips out, leaving Lucky to pick up the pieces. And when she’s left to pick up the pieces, that means both the people she stole from and the FBI are on her tail. Somehow, only her tail, as Cary seems to have completely eluded everyone. In order for Lucky to survive, she’ll have to find Cary, avoid danger, and outsmart everyone. We see through a series of flashbacks that Lucky has basically been raised to be a Grade-A criminal by her father, John, played by Timothy Olyphant. He’s currently serving a prison sentence, having eventually been caught, but not before teaching Lucky all the ways of grifting and maneuvering situations to best suit her. Really, the question becomes: did he teach her this because he’s her father and it was out of love, or did he teach her because it was out of necessity and Lucky was simply a pawn in his schemes? That’s something you have to feel out for yourself as the seven episodes progress, because as shifty as Lucky is, so is her father.

Lucky also has to avoid FBI Agent Billie Rand, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who is tracking her down. She has to stay two steps ahead of crime boss Wayne Whittaker, played by William Fichtner, who is tasking his right-hand woman, Priscilla, played by Annette Bening, with finding his money, finding Lucky and Cary, and making them pay. Priscilla has her own right-hand man, Dutch, played by Clifton Collins Jr. Dutch seems like one of the more reasonable characters, very levelheaded, and he reminded me a lot of how Jonathan Banks played Mike in Breaking Bad. Bening is, of course, a wonderful nab here, as she also decided to grace television with her presence in the first season of Dutton Ranch. Hey, if you can’t find good film roles, at least try to find them on television, and she seems to be doing that. The conundrum here, though, is that Priscilla is also Cary’s mother. She has skin in the game because she doesn’t want Cary to get killed over his error in judgment. She cares less about Lucky, but Lucky isn’t the one currently with the money.

This becomes very much a sleight-of-hand series, as people are constantly looking for someone who has something they need, only to find somebody who doesn’t have the thing they need but may also be looking for the same thing. Two people with completely different intentions may suddenly need to get to the exact same thing for entirely different reasons. Looming over all of them is justice. Sweet, sweet government justice, in the form of an FBI agent who is here for all the right reasons. She does have a partner, Agent Eli Gates, played by Mo McRae, with less of a presence and less screen time, but the partner does exist, which I appreciate because, having seen some projects recently that lazily send agents into the field by themselves in nonsensical scenarios, I now realize this is something we’ve learned to take for granted.

Anya Taylor-Joy plays Lucky perfectly. She has that kind of doe-eyed quality that makes you want to see her survive the impending finale that you know will leave bodies on the floor, and she’s magnetic enough to carry the series regardless of who she’s on screen with at any given time. Her scenes with every other character are interesting. In one episode, she’s on the run and finds her way into a ramshackle house out in the middle of the desert where a grandmother is raising her two granddaughters away from everything. Lucky tries to hide there, and you can see genuine care coming out of her. There is a good person in there. She isn’t evil. She isn’t intent upon harming or hurting others. She’s just found herself in a series of situations where people keep pulling her back in. A little like Michael Corleone, just when he thought he was out, they pull him right back in, except in this situation, it feels like life keeps pulling Lucky back in. She’s on her own, away from her father, who’s in jail, and yet somehow, because she ended up married to Cary, she’s still connected to a criminal enterprise. And because Cary can’t keep things where they should be, he ends up putting her in danger. I know it makes for a great TV series, but Lucky feels like the kind of character who just needs a break, because she seems to be oddly attracting the wrong type of people.

I enjoyed Annette Bening here, as I typically always do. I rarely ever find myself thinking, “Wow, that Annette Bening performance didn’t work for me.” I do have one performance in mind where she and the entire film were a hot mess, but otherwise, generally, even if the film doesn’t work, she does. With Lucky, she delivers another strong performance, matching that driven rancher in Dutton Ranch but with more empathy here, as Priscilla is genuinely concerned for the future of her son. I continue to think Clifton Collins Jr. is one of the most underrecognized character actors we have out there. I was really hoping his film Jockey from a few years ago would get him more critical acclaim and notice, but it was such a small film that it didn’t really go anywhere, and he certainly didn’t get an Oscar nomination for it, even though his performance was absolutely worthy of one. He so rarely gets roles like that, opportunities for him to truly stand head and shoulders above the rest. Hopefully there’s another Jockey waiting for him down the line. If you haven’t seen Jockey, please do. It’s amazing.

Timothy Olyphant is great here, and I feel like I’m seeing him in everything. He’s starting to pop up all over the place, like I’m getting some sort of Timothy Olyphant curse where he just kind of shows up in things. It’s a good curse to have because I like him, but he is kind of playing the same character he always plays here. There isn’t a lot of range to Timothy Olyphant, and this isn’t that far removed from the rest of the characters he’s played throughout his career. So while he’s good, he wouldn’t be the standout for me. William Fichtner is fine. He’s another character actor who has never really gotten his due, but this isn’t the right role for him to finally get that recognition. Between him and Clifton Collins Jr., at least Clifton seems to have more scenes that allow him to stretch. William just kind of plays a pretty typical bad guy, something he’s done throughout his career.

And Drew Starkey as Cary? Listen, okay? He just doesn’t have enough screen time for me to care. He’s in the first episode, and then we follow Lucky for a while before he eventually comes back. Because he ran away, we simply don’t get enough time with Drew Starkey. So I don’t understand why there was so much pressure to make sure this one role was cast perfectly. I understand that he had to be likable enough that we would believe Lucky would fall for him, smart enough that he felt like he could pull off this plan, and endearing enough that it feels believable his mother would go out of her way to save him. I get all of that, but I don’t know why uniquely Drew Starkey was the only person for this role. It’s just not a dynamic enough role for it to require somebody with a very particular set of skills. For example, if Tom Holland had been in the same role, would the series have suffered? I don’t think so. I think Tom Holland probably could have turned in a similar performance, potentially better, also potentially worse, but basically the same thing. But if somehow Drew’s presence made Anya feel seen enough that she could elevate her performance to the next level, then his casting was worth it.

Far after this series ends, I’m going to remember it for having excellent pacing and not trying to extend itself to ten episodes. I remember in 2025 feeling really good about Down Cemetery Road, and then for some reason it ran far longer than it ever needed to, stretching out that plot to fill some sort of episode quota. I like that Lucky is just seven episodes. If streaming allows us to have a fluctuating number of episodes, it should be whatever best serves the season-long arc. Arguably, seven is the absolute perfect number for Lucky. There’s even that lucky seven thing for gamblers. I guess really any number is lucky if you’re a gambler because you’ll try to find anything you possibly can in the tea leaves, but I know some people consider seven to be a lucky number. So there’s even some textual reason for stopping at seven. The episodes are well paced. I was never bored. They maximize everything.

The audio description by Pixlogic takes full advantage of the quieter moments, shaping out the characters and giving us details like hairstyles, injuries, who is hiding, who can see whom, and whether the person hiding can see the people looking for them. There are so many little intricate details throughout the run of the show that I appreciated the audio description for Lucky. The music throughout easily supports the series, and the performances are great because the casting director reached out and found real talent, and it shows.

Will Emmy voters remember a show that premiered in July? Not likely. They completely forgot Smoke this year, so I’m not sure we’re going to come back around to Lucky. But if we do, Lucky makes an excellent case for Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series for Anya Taylor-Joy and certainly Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for Annette Bening. I would also probably nominate Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, depending on how the rest of the shows go. As far as Supporting Actor, it would likely go to Timothy Olyphant, but I would rather see Clifton Collins Jr. get recognized for this.

If you haven’t gotten Lucky yet, now’s the time. Although, oddly enough, in order to get Lucky, you have to have Apple TV. Wait, what did you think I was talking about?

Fresh: 8.5/10