An Exclusive First Look at The Assassin on Prime Video, Starring Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore

Prime Video is turning up the heat with its newest original thriller, The Assassin — a gripping espionage drama starring British icons Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore. In this exclusive first look, we dive into what promises to be one of the streaming platform’s most intense and emotionally charged series of the year.

Set across London, Paris, and Istanbul, The Assassin follows Claire Ashcroft (Keeley Hawes), a career intelligence officer whose world is shattered after a covert mission ends in tragedy. As she’s pulled back into the field for one final job, she’s forced to team up with Elias Ward (Freddie Highmore), a tech-savvy analyst with no field experience — but a mind trained to detect patterns, secrets, and lies. Their mission: track a rogue asset who knows too much about an off-the-books government operation. But as the pair dig deeper, they begin to uncover a conspiracy far bigger than either of them imagined — one that reaches the highest levels of power, and one that could cost them their lives.

Known for her acclaimed performances in Bodyguard and Line of Duty, Keeley Hawes steps into darker, more personal territory as Claire. With a sharp edge and hidden grief, Claire is a woman haunted by her past — and unwilling to let it define her. “Claire is brittle, brilliant, and deeply wounded,” Hawes says. “She’s spent her entire life lying — to the world, to her family, and even to herself. This story is about what happens when the lies finally crack.” Early footage shows Hawes in high-stakes scenes involving rooftop chases, encrypted messages, and quiet moments of emotional breakdown. It’s a performance already generating awards buzz — and rightly so.

An exclusive first look at 'The Assassin' on Prime Video, starring Keeley  Hawes and Freddie Highmore

Fresh off his seven-season run as Dr. Shaun Murphy on The Good Doctor, Freddie Highmore makes a dramatic shift in tone. As Elias Ward, he plays a man thrust into a world of violence and deception — someone used to reading data, not faces. “Elias is brilliant but inexperienced,” Highmore explains. “He sees the world in code and logic, and suddenly he’s in a world where nothing makes sense. Working opposite Keeley was intimidating in the best way.”

Gone is the quiet vulnerability of Shaun Murphy. In The Assassin, Highmore is jittery, sharp-tongued, and slowly unraveling as he’s pushed beyond his comfort zone. It’s a reinvention that fans and critics alike are eager to see. While spy thrillers often lean on shootouts and slick action, The Assassin aims higher — prioritizing character over chaos, and morality over melodrama. Think The Night Manager meets Killing Eve, with a slow-burn intensity that explodes in the final episodes. Director Lena Farrow (known for State of Siege and No Man’s Land) says the show is about the violence we justify in the name of peace.

“We’ve created something that asks: who gets to decide what’s right? What happens when good people do bad things for the ‘greater good’? That’s the heart of The Assassin.” Visually, The Assassin is a feast. From fog-drenched London alleyways to the sunlit chaos of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, the show was shot on location using a cinematic lens. The music, composed by Max Richter, adds a haunting undercurrent that elevates the tension without overwhelming it.

The series is structured as a limited 6-episode event, each running about an hour. The pacing is deliberate, but each episode ends with revelations that demand a binge-watch. Critics who’ve seen the first two episodes at an industry screening describe the show as “gripping, morally complex, and emotionally devastating.” Both leads are being singled out for career-defining performances, and the finale — though still under wraps — is reportedly “jaw-dropping.”

In a television landscape crowded with action-packed thrillers and formulaic espionage dramas, The Assassin stands out for its emotional intelligence, layered performances, and refusal to play it safe. With Keeley Hawes at her most commanding and Freddie Highmore showing us a whole new side of his talent, The Assassin may just be the smartest, most addictive show of the season.

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