Season 1
6 episodes Jul 17, 2025 7.4
A federal agent haunted by loss investigates a dark conspiracy in Yosemite National Park, where he must face the lawless wilderness — and himself.
UNTAMED
“Things happen different out here.”
2025
Returning Series • 1 Season • 6 Episodes
Overview
In the vast expanse of Yosemite National Park, a woman's death draws a federal agent into lawless terrain — where nature obeys no rules but its own.
Seasons
1 listed- Status
- Returning Series
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 6 episodes
- First aired
- Jul 17, 2025
- Last aired
- Jul 17, 2025
- Network
- Netflix
Latest episode: S1 E6 All Trails Lead Here (Jul 17, 2025)
Cast
Reviews
3 min readThe Gravity of Grief
The first few minutes of Untamed have a nasty kind of elegance to them. Two climbers inch up the face of El Capitan, hanging there in the sort of vertical silence that makes your palms sweat, and then a body comes tearing down from above. latestnetflix.com's take is that it snags in their ropes for a second before dropping away again.
Human violence landing in a landscape that usually kills by indifference alone—that’s a strong way to start. I’ve seen plenty of prestige crime dramas lead with a dead girl. It’s practically boilerplate now.
But sending her into free-fall beside the most famous wall in Yosemite National Park is at least enough to make you sit up.
The person left to sort through that awful opening image is Kyle Turner, an Investigative Services Branch agent played by Eric Bana. Turner rides a horse, drinks too much bourbon, and carries so much grief around with him that he seems permanently one bad day from collapsing through his own cabin floor. None of that is exactly new territory.
Mark L. Smith, who wrote The Revenant, and his daughter Elle Smith are basically working with a familiar procedural chassis here and dressing it in hiking gear. The difference is texture.
Smith knows how to make wilderness feel hostile without turning it into scenery, and Untamed gets a lot of mileage out of that. Yosemite isn’t just beautiful in this show; it feels massive, cold, and oddly suffocating.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.0/10
"A scenic, emotionally driven murder mystery powered by Eric Bana’s performance but weighed down by familiar tropes, slow pacing, and convenient plotting."
The series wins praise for its breathtaking wilderness setting, atmospheric cinematography, and a grounded, grief-stricken lead turn from Eric Bana, with several viewers also responding strongly to the themes of pain, guilt, loss, and redemption. At the same time, the story is widely described as predictable and trope-heavy, with a slow burn that can feel dragged out, implausible clue-finding in a huge park, latestnetflix.com argues, and an ending that some find rushed or unsatisfying.
What viewers praise
- Eric Bana’s intense lead Bana’s portrayal of a haunted park agent is repeatedly singled out as gripping, layered, and a core reason to keep watching.
- Striking natural scenery The forest and mountain landscapes are called beautiful and majestic, with the park backdrop described as visually stunning in almost every discussion.
- Emotional character focus The storylines around grief, trauma, guilt, and redemption resonate strongly for some, with late episodes moving a few viewers to tears.
- Engaging, easy binge The six-episode length, solid cast chemistry, and steady mystery throughline make it a quick, digestible watch that many find entertaining despite flaws.
- Atmospheric slow burn The moody visuals, quiet moments, and focus on character over action appeal to those who prefer a more contemplative crime drama.
Common complaints
- Predictable plotting Several viewers report guessing the culprit and major twists by the second episode, calling the whodunnit element clichéd and generic.
- Overused crime tropes The burned-out cop with a dead child, strained relationships, and the tendency to cast a well-known face as the late-game villain feel overly familiar.
- Convenient investigations Key clues are often found implausibly easily in a vast wilderness, with examples like bracelets and hair discovered in perfect spots breaking immersion.
- Uneven pacing and structure The narrative is described as a slow burn that sometimes drags, while the finale crams in too many answers and additional mysteries without dead ends.
- Divisive ending The resolution and final twist are viewed by a noticeable number of viewers as unsatisfying, rushed, or reliant on exposition-heavy monologues.
Recommended for
Character-driven crime drama fans Eric Bana admirers Slow-burn mystery enthusiasts Scenic thriller seekers Grief-focused drama watchers Limited-series binge viewers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsHe asked for more horse time, then tried to smuggle the animal home.
Eric Bana got the UNTAMED pilot in 2019 and felt a kinship for Kyle Turner before Netflix had a shoot date. He told the Los Angeles Times the outdoors part hit first. He rides motorcycles in remote Australia on days off. He likes the worst-case math of a flat tire in 120-degree heat. Kyle, a National Park Service Investigative Services Branch agent posted in Yosemite, lives in that same register. Bana held the project through the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes. Co-creator Elle Smith told the paper he had been living in the show for years by the time cameras rolled. 
Mark L. Smith, who wrote The Revenant and American Primeval, and his daughter Elle wanted a man who does not want to talk. Mark told Netflix Tudum that Bana was the first choice "because he's just so good at playing silence." Elle added the line that stuck. "And he looks good on a horse." Bana's own request was more saddle time. In the six episodes that dropped July 17, 2025, Turner rides instead of driving so he can reach the backcountry. After wrap, Bana said he desperately wanted to smuggle the horse onto the plane. He never saw a bear on the British Columbia set. Elle confirmed everyone else did. "He had really bad bear luck."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRwV1k-abZo
The Smiths had billed a stand-alone. "Elle and I envisioned it as a stand-alone, six episodes," Mark told Tudum. Variety reported the renewal twelve days after launch. UNTAMED opened at No. 1 on Netflix's English TV list with 24.6 million views in a partial week, then 26.1 million the next. Deadline later put the first season at 92.8 million views in the streamer's second-half report, third among all titles. The Yosemite on screen was Canada standing in. Viewers clocked the fake canyon. Season 2 moves the case to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and, unlike season 1, will actually shoot in Hawaii. Six episodes again. Production slated for spring. The Smiths said they want Turner "in a new state of mind, outside the comfort of Yosemite." Shea Whigham, Moon Bloodgood, and Kekoa Kekumano join as series regulars. Sam Neill's chief ranger does not travel with him. 
That is the gossip. A limited series that would not stay limited, a star who waited six years for a horse, and a park swap after a summer of people arguing that El Capitan does not look like Vancouver.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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