UNTAMED – Miniseries (2025)

Television crime series are ten a penny these days. It seems that pretty much every week a new one is hitting terrestrial channels or streaming platforms, so for one to truly stand out from the crowd it needs to have some element of uniqueness running through its creative DNA. For my money, there’s only a handful of truly great ones that have graced our screens in the last few years: The Bridge (2011-18), Broadchurch (2013-17), True Detective, Mindhunter (2017-19), and Mare of Easttown (2021) immediately spring to mind.

All of those titles featured interesting stories and characters, but what made them special is that there’s a degree of believability that ran through their fictional worlds. Yes, the level of crime may well be heightened for dramatic effect, but if the acting and scripts are good enough then you, the viewer, generally buy into the programme’s reality and forgo some of its more outlandish plot points—which brings us to Untamed. This new murder mystery yarn, while not hitting those aforementioned series’ heights, still has enough going for it to warrant a watch and is one of the better recent releases out there, so let’s take a closer look…

The series starts incredibly strongly with beautiful sweeping shots of Yosemite National Park—where this story’s set—and the camera looms in on two mountaineers climbing El Capitan, a 3,000-foot slab of granite made famous in the superb documentary Free Solo (2018). As hard as their ascent looks, the two climbers’ day gets even worse when, approaching the top, they nearly get killed after the dead body of a woman comes plummeting past them, getting entangled in their ropes. Cut to Investigative Special Agent Kyle Turner (Eric Bana) arriving on the scene, along with some of the park’s rangers, and from here the investigation into who the mystery girl is and how she died gets underway…

We quickly learn that Turner isn’t popular with the rest of his colleagues, mostly because he’s a loner and a grouchy drunk. His anti-social behaviour’s all down to the death of Turner’s son several years back, and as the series progresses more murky goings-on involving key characters start to come out of the woodwork and (surprise, surprise) the dead girl’s story is connected to one of them.

While it can be said that the script for Untamed veers into some seriously convoluted territory, what keeps it all moving along and more or less on track is the calibre of its cast. Anyone who’s seen Bana before (in Munich, say) knows he’s more than capable of playing tough, brooding types, but besides him there are other superb performances too. First and foremost, Lily Santiago as rookie ranger Naya Vasquez leaves quite the impression; her character arc’s interesting as she’s newly arrived from Los Angeles after fleeing an abusive partner and is trying to make a new life for herself and her young son. She gets assigned to help out Turner, and at first he’s not keen on the situation at all, but soon enough she wins him over when he sees she’s tough and resourceful. Santiago’s acting more than holds up against veteran Bana, and the pair have genuine chemistry throughout.

Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married) also impresses as Turner’s ex-wife, Jill. Their on-screen relationship as two people who’ve endured trauma and grief when their young son died is always believable, and while you can see her frustration with Turner’s behaviour, there’s still a great deal of affection for him lying in the background. Much like Vasquez, her character has quite the journey and I think Untamed benefits hugely from her presence.

Seeing Bana’s name in the credits caught my attention, however, the biggest casting surprise has to be legendary A-lister Sam Neill lending his considerable acting chops to proceedings. While not exactly having a huge part, his role as seasoned Chief Park Ranger Paul Souter, who’s sympathetic towards Turner, is still significant and his performance is note-perfect as always. Kudos to father-daughter producer team Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith for bringing Neill on board. There’s a scene towards the end which I won’t spoil here, but Neill conveys so much emotion without hardly saying anything… it’s a masterclass in acting.

Alongside the classy ensemble, what shines is the stunning cinematography from Michael McDonough (Winter’s Bone) and Brendan Kuroki Uegama (Them). Sure, the scenery on display does a lot of the heavy lifting, but thanks to McDonough and Uegama’s visual expertise, the rugged wilderness and natural beauty of the park (actually filmed for the most part in British Columbia, Canada) is beautifully captured—and the levels of light and dark are utilised brilliantly. One could argue the park has just as much significance to the story as that of the characters, so I think it’s a big plus point that its visual splendour is brought to the fore so effectively. There’s also a spot of Native American mysticism dropped in for good measure that sits nicely here without feeling forced; one of the stronger aspects of the script actually.

Talking of which, as I mentioned earlier, Untamed suffers from perhaps too much going on for its own good. Not only is there Turner’s backstory to deal with—and his ex’s—there’s the dead girl, a missing businessman, Vasquez’s complications, another murder, an illegal drug factory, and a foster home that’s far from, shall we say, legitimate. Yes, it’s always good to have various plot strands bubbling away in this type of mystery-thriller story, but for a six-part show that’s way too much to squeeze in here.

What may have worked better, and it’s not often I say this, but I think this would have benefited from being one or two more episodes longer. At times, events feel rushed, so subsequently cause confusion or have less dramatic impact. This is a shame as this had the potential to be a lot better. Writer-producer Mark L. Smith clearly has an affinity for stories set amongst the great outdoors, as his past work on The Revenant (2014) and Twisters (2024) is testament to that, and you can get a good idea of what he was trying to achieve as there’s more than a passing resemblance to True Detective. However, where (most of) that series’ writing was infused with skilful brevity that pushed its storylines along with precision and clarity, here that’s sorely lacking.

For me, one of the strongest plot lines of Untamed is seeing how Turner and Vasquez’s working relationship progresses. Early on, there are a few moments of much-needed levity following the newbie ranger’s attempts at riding a horse, and you can see that she’s really out of her comfort zone—at one point the poor woman even gets attacked by a bear, as well as getting trapped in a cave! Turner, all the while, is quietly observing and helping her to get used to the unforgiving terrain. By the end, there’s something akin to a friendship, and it feels earned.

Some critics have said this Untamed a mostly predictable miniseries, but that’s an unfair statement. There may be character or thematic beats that one can pick up on, but I challenge anyone to guess what the big revelation of the story is. Ultimately, what you’re left with is an interesting and—for the most part—entertaining thriller that, despite some shortcomings, reaches a satisfying conclusion. Untamed’s core themes of trauma, grief, and secrets that will eventually come out are handled proficiently… it’s just frustrating to think that, with stronger scripts and more time, the characters could have properly developed and made this trek out to the park that much more memorable.

USA | 2025 | 6 EPISODES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writers: Mark L. Smith & Elle Smith.
directors: Thomas Bezucha, Nick Murphy & Neasa Hardiman
starring: Eric Bana, Sam Neill, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lily Santiago & Wilson Bethel.