Now on Netflix: Sam Neill returns in a gritty rural thriller where buried secrets, land disputes, and blood ties collide This tense new release blends Ozark’s darkness with Yellowstone’s raw Americana — and features Neill’s most haunting role since The Piano

Sam Neill and Eric Bana solve a grisly murder in Untamed, Netflix’s new crime drama. Dark and foreboding, the new TV show teases the dangers lurking amidst Yosemite National Park’s stunning vistas.

Netflix has dropped Untamed‘s first teaser, its first few scenes escalate a sense of dread despite the serene setting. Untamed combines the best elements of shows like Yellowstone, True Detective, and Ozark, their dark narratives all set against nature’s unassuming backdrop. Eric Bana’s character, Kyle Turner, even set the tone, hinting at the dark side of California’s Yosemite National Park: “People come here to explore, they see maybe ten percent of the park… Things happen different out here.”

Confirmed in development in Jun. 2024, Untamed is “a character-driven mystery thriller that follows Kyle Turner, a special agent in an elite branch of the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Turner on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park, and in his own past.” Sam Neill plays Paul Souter, Yosemite’s chief park ranger and Turner’s long-time friend.

Eric Bana And Sam Neill Lead Untamed’s Ensemble Cast

The teaser might have offered a glimpse of that murder and the aftermath, but outside the plot, Untamed‘s real draw is in the all-star cast. Joining Bana and Neill are Rosemarie DeWitt (as Jill Bodwin, Turner’s ex-wife), Lily Santiago (as Naya Vasquez, an ambitious Los Angeles cop), and Wilson Bethel (as Shane Maguire, a former army ranger now in charge of park wildlife). Story details are scarce save for the main premise, but it’s likely the show’s ensemble will influence (even complicate) the outcome.

Co-showrunner Elle Smith said Santiago’s character offers the outsider’s perspective. She’s still learning the ropes of park protection, her intuition still attuned to city life. “Because Vasquez is new to the park, we get to see the park through her eyes,” Smith explained. “We get to understand what this job is, and see the beauty of the park, but also the dangers.” Vasquez is Turner’s antithesis, her adversarial views backed by experience in big-city homicide.

Co-showrunner Mark Smith said Untamed is a no-frills crime drama that revolves around flawed characters. “Everyone thinks of Yosemite as this beautiful place with all the vistas and all the scenery, but we were trying to touch on the dangers that are just beyond that,” he explained. “I love stripping all the cheats away, stripping all the more modern tools that people can use. It really gets down to the character and what they can find within themselves.”

Smith wrote the screenplays for Martyrs, The Revenant, The Marsh King’s Daughter, and American Primeval, which explain where all of Untamed‘s grit is coming from.

All six episodes of Untamed hit Netflix on Jul. 17.