CABLE | Anya Taylor-Joy Gets Un–'Lucky' on the Run on Apple TV

"I don't have time for your cowboy haikus right now."

Apple Studios / Hello Sunshine

The talented and wide-eyed Anya Taylor-Joy stars superbly in the entertaining crime thriller miniseries Lucky, based on bestselling author Marissa Stapley's novel of the same name. Created by screenwriter Jonathan Tropper and showrun by Cassie Pappas, audiences are dropped into the eponymous con woman's exciting identity-swapping dealings on the run when she wakes up alone in Las Vegas with no memory of what was supposed to be a getaway after one last big score.

Surrounding Taylor-Joy's energetic performance are Drew Starkey as her con man husband, who suddenly takes off, Annette Bening as his crime boss mother, Timothy Olyphant as her imprisoned con man father, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as the dogged FBI agent hunting them all. Her Lucky must outsmart and outmaneuver her chasers each episode while figuring out what her limited options are with few resources and everybody wanting things from her she does not have.

There's a general lightness to the beach read adaptation's formulaic yet enticing tone. It's a lean genre series, primarily directed by British director Jonathan Van Tulleken, that captures the excitement of committing crimes, chasing criminals, and stealing valuables. As Taylor-Joy's character economically sums up the events as "a series of bad decisions over an extended period of time," everyone's bad decisions result in some interesting turns.

Lucky's seven-episode season is available to stream weekly on Apple TV.


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