Prime Video is taking viewers deep into a dangerous criminal underworld with Criminal, a hard-hitting neo-noir thriller packed with deadly rivalries, family secrets and violent consequences. And with Charlie Hunnam, Emilia Clarke, Luke Evans and Adria Arjona leading the cast, the upcoming adaptation is already shaping up to be one of the platform’s major crime dramas.

The streaming service has officially unveiled the first teaser for its eight-episode series, based on the acclaimed, Eisner Award-winning graphic novels by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

While Prime Video has found enormous success with comic-book adaptations such as The Boys and Invincible, Criminal takes a very different direction. There are no superheroes here – just professional thieves, dangerous criminals, fractured families and people struggling to escape the lives they were born into.

Two Friends, Two Very Different Paths Into the Criminal Underworld

At the heart of Criminal is the complicated relationship between two childhood friends whose lives have been shaped by their criminal families.

Charlie Hunnam plays Leo Patterson, an exceptionally intelligent and calculating thief with one defining rule: he refuses to carry a gun. Unlike those around him, Leo wants to escape the criminal legacy inherited from his father and build a life beyond the underworld.

His longtime friend Ricky Lawless (Gus Halper) has no such ambitions. Reckless, unpredictable and hungry for recognition, Ricky embraces the outlaw reputation of his notorious father, Teeg Lawless. His increasingly destructive decisions threaten to pull everyone around him into danger.

Their already volatile world becomes even more complicated through two important relationships:

• Greta (Adria Arjona): A sharp-tongued car thief with a complicated history involving Leo.
• Mallory (Emilia Clarke): Ricky’s girlfriend, who finds herself increasingly frightened by his reckless behaviour and self-destructive tendencies.

But the biggest turning point comes when Ricky gets into serious trouble and his older brother is dragged back into the picture.

Luke Evans’ Character Is Forced Back Into the World He Left Behind

Tracy Lawless (Luke Evans) has spent the past two decades trying to put his criminal past behind him. After leaving prison, he joined the U.S. Army and built a life far removed from the brutal environment of his hometown.

That separation doesn’t last.

When Ricky finds himself in over his head, Tracy is forced to return to the very underworld he spent twenty years escaping. His homecoming sets the stage for a story driven by family loyalty, old grudges and the consequences of a violent past.

The first teaser offers an early glimpse of the escalating chaos, moving between secretive planning sessions, a bank shootout and an explosive confrontation on the streets.

It’s a glimpse of a world where one bad decision can put an entire family in danger.

A Star-Studded Cast Behind the Criminal Empire

Beyond its four central characters, Criminal features an extensive ensemble of established actors, each bringing another piece of the dangerous underworld to life.

The supporting cast includes:

• Richard Jenkins as Ivan: Leo’s ailing father figure and former criminal accomplice.
• John Hawkes as Sebastian Hyde: A ruthless underworld kingpin attempting to recover from a stroke.
• Kadeem Hardison as Gnarly: A former boxer and trusted ally of Leo and Ivan.
• Logan Browning as Jenny: An Internal Affairs detective who grew up alongside Leo.
• Marvin Jones III as Chester: Hyde’s chief enforcer, responsible for carrying out his orders.

The wider ensemble also features Michael Mando, Garrett Hedlund, Patrick J. Adams, Pat Healy, Dominic Burgess, Katie Stevens and Chris Diamantopoulos.

Together, they populate a sprawling criminal network of police officers, thieves, fixers and powerful underworld figures.

Prime Video Is Splitting the Series Into Two Major Story Arcs

Rather than releasing all eight episodes at once or following a traditional weekly schedule, Prime Video has chosen a two-part rollout.

Each volume will contain four episodes and adapt a different storyline from the original graphic novels.

Part 1 – Coward (January 13, 2027)

The opening four episodes are directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the filmmakers behind Half Nelson and Captain Marvel.

The story follows Leo and Ricky as they become entangled in a lucrative heist that goes disastrously wrong. Beneath the criminal operation lies another dangerous complication: secrets surrounding a murder from their shared childhood.

Part 2 – Lawless (January 27, 2027)

The final four episodes are directed by Dee Rees, known for Mudbound.

This storyline shifts the focus to Tracy Lawless and his return home, where family vengeance and the consequences of his military past collide with the criminal world he thought he had left behind.

A Graphic Novel Adaptation More Than 15 Years in the Making

The road to the screen has been a long one.

Plans for a feature-film adaptation of Criminal first emerged in 2011, with South Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon attached to the proposed project.

Now, the property is finally making its way to television, with an episodic format offering considerably more room to explore its interconnected characters and layered neo-noir storytelling.

The adaptation also has its original creator directly involved. Ed Brubaker serves as co-showrunner and executive producer alongside crime novelist Jordan Harper, whose previous work includes Hightown.

Their involvement brings the original creative team closer to the screen adaptation, while the two-part structure allows the series to explore multiple storylines from the graphic novels.

When Does Criminal Premiere on Prime Video?

The eight-episode first season will arrive in two instalments, exclusively on Prime Video:

• January 13, 2027: Criminal: Part 1 – Coward (Episodes 1–4).
• January 27, 2027: Criminal: Part 2 – Lawless (Episodes 5–8).

With Charlie Hunnam and Emilia Clarke at the centre of a story filled with criminal legacies, dangerous family ties and violent confrontations, Criminal is taking a decidedly darker route than Prime Video’s previous comic-book adaptations.

And this time, the biggest threat may not come from the criminal world itself, but from the families and pasts its characters cannot seem to escape.