Sometimes you read the premise for a series and just know it's going to be a good time. That's exactly how I'd describe The Last Frontier, which Apple TV+ just unveiled with a very short teaser confirming a premiere date of 10 October.
It's a 10-episode thriller series set in the wilds of Alaska which looks like it'll start with the crash of an airliner carrying none other than a few dozen violent prisoners. The fact that it crash-lands in such a way that a fair few of them can escape out into the wilderness is just the start.
Jason Clarke will play the lead – Frank Remnick, a US Marshall whose extremely remote territory is normally sleepy and calm. He's obliged to start tracking them down, but will seemingly start to suspect a conspiracy as he finds out more about how the plane went down.
He'll be joined in the cast by Dominic Cooper (who doesn't appear in the teaser, making me think he might be playing a villain of some description), and Haley Bennett, both of whom are capable of great performances. It's a fun cast, that's for sure.
What I really keep coming back to, though, is that central premise – prisoners on a plane, plane crashes. That's all I really need to know, honestly, with the thing that seals it being the consistent quality of Apple TV+'s work over the last few years. It's quite simply the most reliable streaming platform on the market, and that's made me confident that The Last Frontier can really only be competent at the very worst.
If it threads the needle of tone and plotting, though, it could be way, way better than that. Apple seems to have real confidence in its slate of shows, including a whole heap of excellent sci-fi options, but it'll always be hopeful that a new show or movie can reach the sort of critical and cultural consensus that has greeted the likes of Severance most recently.
I'll certainly be watching it, although whether that's right when it premieres in October or once I get through more of my backlog is anyone's guess.
