Nocturne Review: Apple TV’s Slow-Burn Crime Drama Struggles to Ignite
Premiering with two episodes on October 30, the Apple TV thriller Nocturne adapts a series of best-selling Scandinavian mystery novels by Lars Kepler—a pen name for the Swedish husband-and-wife team Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril—to examine the weary mechanics of a slow-burning prestige crime drama.
Cast and Premise of the Apple TV Thriller
The series stars Liev Schreiber as Jonah Lynn, a retired, reclusive Philadelphia police officer and military veteran whose career was defined by an earlier, grueling investigation into a serial killer. That killer, Jurek Walter, is played by Stephen Graham and is confined within the walls of a Pennsylvania psychiatric hospital. The narrative shifts when Michael—a boy long presumed dead after disappearing alongside his sister—surfaces filthy and feeble, breathing new life into the hunt for the missing girl.
The search draws in an ensemble spanning multiple law enforcement agencies. Zazie Beetz stars as Saga, an FBI agent who acts as a surrogate daughter to Jonah and goes undercover as a psychiatric patient inside the facility. Poorna Jagannathan appears as Quinn, a rigorous bureau colleague, while Bill Camp plays a weary local police chief. Rory Culkin rounds out the cast as Karl, a sensitive hospital worker caught in the orbit of Graham’s character.
Nocturne Struggles with Pacing and Character Development
Writing for the sources, the critic noted that the series relies heavily on the conventions of the slow-burn mystery format, which gained widespread traction in American television following AMC’s 2011 adaptation of The Killing. While the genre has yielded acclaimed titles including True Detective, Mare of Easttown, Fargo, and Only Murders in the Building, Nocturne struggles with pacing and character development.
The review points out that while Graham’s performance as Jurek—alongside Beetz’s portrayal of Saga—brings distinct tension to the psychiatric institution, characters situated outside the hospital remain underwritten. Camp, Jagannathan, and Chrissy Metz, who plays the missing boy’s mother Ida, are described as being saddled with thin material that relies on genre clichés. Furthermore, the sources observed that the Pennsylvania setting lacks the specific regional texture and patience found in local dramas like Mare of Easttown.
Creator Rowan Joffé adapted the Joona Linna novels for the 10-episode season, with the initial review based on the first seven episodes provided to critics.
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