The Assassin is a British crime thriller television series created by Harry and Jack Williams for Amazon Prime Video, ZDF and Stan. It stars Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore. On November 7, 2025, it was reported that a second season was in development.
Contents
Premise
A retired assassin living in Greece is reunited with her estranged son who is seeking answers about his father and his mother’s past. However, both find themselves in danger when the assassin's past catches up with her.
Cast
Keeley Hawes as Julie Green, a retired assassin and former soldier
Georgina Bitmead as Young Julie
Freddie Highmore as Edward Green, an investigative journalist and Julie’s son
Gerald Kyd as Luka, a local butcher and friend of Julie
Alan Dale as Aaron Cross, the billionaire CEO of Cross Global Mining
Shalom Brune-Franklin as Kayla Cross, Aaron’s daughter and Edward's fiancée, head of the Cross Global Mining charitable foundation
Devon Terrell as Ezra Cross, Aaron’s son, Kayla's brother and Vice-Chairman of Cross Global Mining
David Dencik as Jasper de Voogdt, the former head of IT for Cross Global Mining
Gina Gershon as Marie Bertrand, a woman tracking down Edward
Jack Davenport as Sean, an assassin and Julie’s ex-boyfriend
Richard Dormer as Damien Hammond, Julie’s handler
Ali Fardi as Khaled, a Libyan National Army prison guard
Soroush Helali as Chris, a bodyguard for Aaron Cross
Production
The six-part series is created by Harry and Jack Williams and produced by Two Brothers Pictures in association with German company ZDF, All3Media International, and Stan in Australia. Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore star, and executive produce. Executive producers also include Sarah Hammond.
The series began filming in Greece in August 2024.
Many scenes of the series were taken in Porto Germeno, Salamis and Athens.
Release
The Assassin premiered on both Prime Video in the UK and Stan in Australia on 25 July 2025.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 18 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Though it struggles to find its footing between thrilling caper and comedic drama, The Assassin is sustained by the full array of talent shared between Keely Hawes and Freddie Highmore to splendid effect." Reviewing for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan gave the series five stars, describing it as "perfectly crafted preposterousness ... stylish, witty, tightly written (and) even more tightly paced". David Opie for Empire magazine gave it four stars, praising the interplay between Hawes' and Highmore's characters and summarising that "it's how The Assassin plays with gender and genre that marks the show out as something worth making time for". Emily Baker for The i Paper was more critical, characterising it as a "wannabe James Bond thriller" which "pushes the boundaries of reasonable storytelling beyond comprehension", with Hawes' talent "completely let down by thin characterisation and a shoddy, juvenile script".
Anachronisms
In the first episode, Julie Green is pictured receiving a text message on a flip-phone in 1994; in reality, the first flip phone wasn't available on the market until 1996. The model used appears similar to a Motorola Razr, which was not available for another 10 years.
