“Where’s my son? Where’s my money?”
Annette Bening asks Anya Taylor-Joy this, and it’s just one of many intriguing things going on in the Lucky trailer:
Here are five reasons why it could be Apple TV’s next hit.
The cast
Anya Taylor-Joy is an actress I’ve certainly been aware of, but have somehow managed to miss out on most of her prominent recent work, including The Queen’s Gambit and The Gorge. She has been on my radar though dating back to Peaky Blinders, and I’ve been looking forward to catching her in other things since.
She takes the spotlight in Lucky, playing a con artist on the run from the feds and the bad people both in the wake of a major heist gone wrong.
The cast is filled in with megawatt names such as the aforementioned Bening and Timothy Olyphant, who plays Lucky’s father.
Lucky is derivative… in the best kind of way
We’ve all seen a ton of TV shows and movies about people on the run, with Midnight Run and Banshee representing best of breed.
Lucky is adapted from Marissa Stapley’s novel of the same name, which was a Reese’s Book Club selection. The premise isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel, but that’s mostly beside the point.
Lucky has a prestige TV sheen mapped against a quirky energy that makes it look like it’ll be a fun ride, if nothing else. That plus the stellar cast will be enough to get me to watch the show and likely stick around.
Vegas, baby
I rewatched Swingers recently, and the “old school” Vegas sequence remains one of my favorite bits. Even if I can live without ever visiting another casino again in my life, shows that take place in and around Vegas are always captivating.
Another fun detail is that Taylor-Joy talks about filming in Caesars Palace in all night shoots, with part of the idea being that she wanted her character to present as she’s “just scraping by” versus simply turning in a glossy-heist-queen cliché performance.
Apple TV is on a legit roll
Back in Apple TV’s early days, I was a bit skeptical that it would eventually break into the conversation of being the best streaming service out there cough cough The Morning Show et al.
But there’s no doubt that Apple TV is now up there with HBO Max (or whatever it’s called these days) in terms of the streaming service regularly cranking out the best shows on television. Widow’s Bay, Pluribus, Slow Horses, Shrinking, Sugar, Star City, Bad Monkey.
And that’s just for starters. Here’s hoping Lucky will crack into that group.
Episodes release weekly
This is a small detail, but important. The binge TV model has its merits… but tends to trend with the Netflix-style shows that you can safely fold laundry or shop on Temu while watching.
For high quality shows, getting an episode or two a week simply feels like more of an experience. Conversations and buzz and podcast discussions build in between. For the best shows, it’s simply more fun to get to enjoy them over a few months instead of a frenzy of a few nights. Widow’s Bay is the most recent and exquisite example of this.
Lucky premieres on Apple TV on July 15th, 2026.