The Assassin, a brand-new comedy-crime thriller brought to you by the creators of The Tourist, has officially landed on Prime Video.
Helmed by Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore, the six-part series follows a dysfunctional mother-and-son duo, Julie (Hawes) and Edward (Highmore).
As they reunite after a long estrangement, Edward quickly learns that she's actually a retired assassin, and to make matters worse, when her past begins catching up with them, they're forced to go on the run across Europe.
Hawes and Highmore, who also serve as executive producers, are joined by Gina Gershon, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Richard Dormer, Jack Davenport and Alan Dale. Meanwhile, Harry and Jack Williams, real-life brothers and creators of The Tourist, Angela Black and Liar, are billed as co-creators.
Following The Assassin's premiere on 25 July, the crime drama has received glowing reviews. Given five stars by The Guardian, the series was lauded as "stylish, witty, tightly written [and] even more tightly paced" while "massively entertaining us at every turn with the proper amount of seriousness."
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Meanwhile, Radio Times opted for a four-star rating and described The Assassin as "a glorious visual spectacle".
"The best part of this show is, no doubt, the relationship between Julie and Edward," the publication noted. "The mother-son verbal sparring matches that continue across all of the episodes are excellently scripted, hugely entertaining and funny, and a joy to watch."
Speaking about her role in the series, Hawes told Yahoo UK: "It's relatable in a way that James Bond isn't, really."
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"It was such good fun," the actor added. "It was Jack and Harry, and it was Freddie, and just the whole package really was un-turndownable, five months in Athens, a brilliant cast around us."
In an interview for The Radio Times Writers' Room, the Williams brothers revealed that they wrote The Assassin not long after The Tourist.
"We'd wanted to write a mother-son dynamic for a while, it seemed funny and interested that they're estranged," said Jack Williams.
"It's not something you see a lot of in drama, or if you do, it's all very tortured and very straight-laced. As a sort of central pairing, it didn't seem like we'd seen many shows with this kind of tone that had that at the heart of it."
All six episodes of The Assassin are now available to stream on Prime Video.
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