Anya Taylor-Joy's Apple TV Crime Miniseries Is A Must-Watch For Every Fan

Anya Taylor-Joy's best small-screen performance remains her portrayal of Beth Harmon in Netflix's "The Queen's Gambit," but she might have topped that period drama with her latest miniseries. Based on Marissa Stapley's 2021 novel, "Lucky" is an Apple TV crime-thriller miniseries starring Taylor-Joy as the titular con artist who's forced to go on the run after a heist goes wrong. From the very beginning, the show delivers high-octane action tempered by a typically grounded and naturalistic lead performance, which seems destined to become one of Anya Taylor-Joy's best.

It used to be that no one was watching Apple TV shows, despite their high quality, but the streamer seems to be gaining momentum — buoyed by the sci-fi phenomenon "Severance" and the best spy show on TV, "Slow Horses." Like that Gary Oldman-led series, "Lucky" boasts an impressive cast. Alongside Taylor-Joy, you've got heavy hitters like Annette Bening, who's recently reminded us all of her immeasurable talent with her portrayal of the 10 Petal Ranch matriarch Beulah Jackson on Paramount's "Dutton Ranch." There's also Timothy Olyphant and "Outer Banks" star Drew Starkey. But Taylor-Joy is the real standout here.

The actor plays Lucky Armstrong, who along with her husband Cary Matheson (Starkey) steals millions of dollars via a dodgy bio-diesel scheme. The couple plan to leave the United States with their fortune, but after a night of partying in Vegas, Lucky wakes up to find her husband and the cash missing. With the FBI and a mob boss closing in, she's forced to go on the run. It makes for a compelling cat-and-mouse thriller full of top-notch performances and action set-pieces that maintains the impressive quality we've come to expect from Apple TV.

"Lucky" wastes no time getting into the action. The premiere episode begins with a sequence establishing Lucky Armstrong and her husband as a couple, but after that it quickly becomes a tense cat-and-mouse game, with Lucky using all her con artist tricks to escape Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor's FBI Agent Billie Rand and he team as they descend on her hotel. After that, the action doesn't let up, as Lucky desperately looks for a way to escape Vegas and outrun her pursuers, which also include Annette Bening's criminal kingpin Priscilla Matheson and her goons.

But while the show immediately plunges you into the action, there's also enough to keep you interested in Lucky's ordeal and the wider plot. Her father, John Armstrong (Timothy Olyphant), is in prison but seems to be the one pulling the strings behind the botched heist. He's also the one who taught Lucky all she knows, and the two maintain a close relationship despite John's incarceration problem. He seems just as surprised to find that his daughter's husband absconded with the money, but there may be more to the story.

"Lucky" is created, co-showrun, written, and executive-produced by Jonathan Tropper, who previously created the hit Apple TV series and Stephen King favorite, "Your Friends & Neighbors." Cassie Pappas, who has written on Apple TV's underrated sci-fi series "Silo" and Netflix crime drama "Griselda," serves as co-showrunner. The first two episodes are available to stream right now on Apple TV, with the rest arriving weekly on Wednesdays until August 19, 2026.