PRIME TARGET on Apple TV+ is a new Thriller Series with spies, lots of numbers, and much traveling in the eight episodes. It may sound strange, but it’s awesome, and very character-driven with a great cast. Read our full Prime Target season 1 review here!

PRIME TARGET is a new Apple TV+ thriller series and this one feels like a cross between The Da Vinci CodeA Beautiful Mind, and even Indiana Jones. Of course, it’s completely its own thing, but if you enjoyed any of those, you should be happy with this new series.

No doubt, the story of Prime Target can make you paranoid. But so can anything you hear or read online these days – not least via social media. And really, the storyline of this series doesn’t seem that far-fetched. Season 1 has eight episodes and premieres with the first two episodes before going into weekly episodic releases.

Continue reading our Prime Target season 1 review below. Find episodes 1 and 2 on Apple TV+ from January 22, 2025.

A very relevant conspiracy thriller

With Prime Target, we’re getting a thriller series with a conspiracy plot. Not something that’s crazy out there but rather it’s about the NSA surveilling people they expect will discover or invent a new global threat. These people are doing theoretical work but the NSA is acutely aware of the applied possibilities of this work.

The story features Edward Brooks (Leo Woodall), who is a brilliant young math postgraduate. He’s not great with people, but he’s not exactly bad either. Basically, he just works well in the world of numbers when things make sense to him. When the series begins, Ed Brooks is on the verge of a major breakthrough.

It’s a breakthrough that involves prime numbers. Others have done similar work before, but somehow they have always been stopped – either by persuasion or elimination.

If Edward Brooks succeeds in finding a pattern in prime numbers, it would mean he holds the key to the digital world. Of course, he is only interested in the theory, not the applied possibilities. However, others are and that’s why the NSA gets involved.

Well, indirectly, because nothing is simple in Prime Target. It’s not crazy complicated either, so you don’t need to worry about keeping up.

A female NSA agent, Taylah Sanders (Quintessa Swindell) has been watching mathematicians’ behavior for years and reporting back to the NSA. However, seeing one of “her” mathematicians die, she starts to worry about what the job actually entails. Soon, Taylah and Edward begin to unravel the conspiracy at the heart of everything.

Prime Target (2025) – Review | Apple TV+ Thriller Series

Leo Woodall is perfectly cast

To me, Leo Woodall looks as lot like Sean Astin, which to this 1980s-loving girl is never a bad thing. As the Cambridge mathematician, Edward Brooks may have the face of an angel due to Leo Woodall portraying him, but the actor nails the character as well.

He’s always lost in thought and can be blind to things that the rest of us take for granted. Leo Woodall makes Ed Brooks seem relatable and likable – and even when he isn’t all that likable, it isn’t due to him purposely doing anything wrong. He is just different. And we need that in the world as well.

The casting of the Edward Brooks character is paramount to making the entire Apple TV+ series work. Fortunately, with Leo Woodall (The White Lotus, One Day) the casting is perfect. Also, Quintessa Swindell (Black Adam, In Treatment) as the young NSA agent with a solid moral compass is great casting.

So many amazing actors in this Apple TV+ series

Along with these two wonderfully cast characters, we’re being spoiled with wonderful actors in all other key roles. Most notably the amazing BAFTA Award winner Sidse Babett Knudsen (Borgen, Westworld), and the Danish actor is often credited as the third name, so she plays a big part in much of the story.

Also getting a lot of screentime and third billing in several episodes is Emmy Award winner Martha Plimpton (The Regime, The Goonies). She plays an NSA agent as does Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones). In another smaller, but important, role is Fra Fee (Rebel Moon, Boys from County Hell).

Plus, Academy Award nominee and BAFTA Award winner Stephen Rea (The Crying Game), David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Jason Flemyng (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ali Suliman (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), and Joseph Mydell (The Eternal Daughter).

Watch season 1 of Prime Target on Apple TV+ now

Prime Target is a series created by award-winning writer Steve Thompson (Sherlock, Vienna Blood), who is also the executive producer. Laura Hastings-Smith (The Little Drummer Girl) also serves as executive producer as does writer and director Brady Hood (The One, Great Expectations), who directed all episodes.

New Regency with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions are behind the new series and even the opening credits are gorgeous. Much like Game of Thrones, Get Millie Black, or Severance, it offers a kind of intro, you stare at and become fascinated by. For Prime Target, it’s very appropriately all about patterns.

The Night Agent season 2 is coming out the day after Prime Target premieres and the two series are great companion works. The storylines themselves aren’t similar, but the protagonists wanting to do good while being in a world where the bad people are winning with their methods, results in a similar overall vibe.

The eight-episode series will premiere globally on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes, followed by one episode weekly every Wednesday through March 5, 2025.

Prime Target premieres on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes on January 22, 2025.

Details

Creator: Steve Thompson
Writer: Steve Thompson
Director: Brady Hood
Cast: Leo Woodall, Quintessa Swindell, Stephen Rea, David Morrissey, Martha Plimpton, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Jason Flemyng, Harry Lloyd, Ali Suliman, Fra Fee, Joseph Mydell

Plot

Prime Target features a brilliant young math postgraduate, Edward Brooks, who is on the verge of a major breakthrough. If he succeeds in finding a pattern in prime numbers, he will hold the key to every computer in the world. Soon, he begins to realize an unseen enemy is trying to destroy his idea before it’s even born, which throws him into the orbit of Taylah Sanders, a female NSA agent who’s been tasked with watching and reporting on mathematicians’ behavior. Together, they start to unravel the troubling conspiracy Edward is at the heart of.

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!
Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard
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