'The Assassin' review: A razor-sharp spy thriller that redefines the genre with Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore
A trail of expertly executed hits sets the tone for The Assassin, a fresh entry in the spy thriller genre that makes its ambition known from the outset. A masked figure takes down a line of armed guards with brutal precision, but the genre’s well-worn tropes are swiftly disrupted once the mask is removed. What follows is not a man on a mission, but Julie — a female assassin played by Keeley Hawes — who stashes away a positive pregnancy test in her tactical suit, with an expression that reads more like resignation than joy.
Keeley Hawes stars in The Assassin, a bold, twisty spy thriller blending action, wit, and family tension across Europe in a genre-defying series.
The Assassin
The Assassin
Several decades later, Julie has traded silenced pistols for seaside silence in a sleepy Greek village, seemingly retired and trying to dodge a group of football-playing local children rather than professional killers. Yet danger doesn’t take retirement lightly, and neither does Julie. Her past begins to close in, forcing her back into a life she tried to leave behind, though time has done little to dull her instincts.
Keeley Hawes thrives in the duality of the role, slipping between maternal reluctance and lethal readiness with nuance. She’s guided through this balancing act by creators Harry and Jack Williams, known for injecting mischief and momentum into stories since The Tourist. Their signature tone — tense but laced with dark comedy — brings energy and surprise to every scene, especially as the plot begins to twist through international locales.
Freddie Highmore joins the narrative as Edward, Julie’s estranged son. His sharp-tongued barbs and intellectual coolness serve as a perfect foil to Hawes’ tightly wound determination. Their chemistry is not built on warmth but on friction — sparring scenes between them crackle with the kind of emotional messiness more often written for conflicted fathers and sons. It’s within these moments that The Assassin reveals its sharpest storytelling blade.
Each episode moves with urgency, leaping from Eastern Europe to North Africa with cinematic scale. The show’s action sequences are tightly choreographed and visually engaging, but they never come at the expense of character. The Williams brothers use genre expectations only to subvert them, exploring deeper territory around gender, aging, and identity through Julie’s reluctant return to the field.
