The new Apple TV Plus Original series Prime Target is the latest star-studded TV show to be released on the streamer that we've been excited to watch in January 2025.
In it, Leo Woodall, who we last saw in the Netflix rom-com One Day, is cast as an awkward math genius working on a secret project to do with prime numbers that's unknowingly under surveillance by a government security agent played by the star from HBO's Euphoria Quintessa Swindell.
The two are forced to team up when the young graduate, known as Edward Brooks in the series, is on the verge of a significant breakthrough that could have a catastrophic global economic impact by wiping out every computer's security system.
After watching all eight episodes of Prime Target (episode 3 will be released tomorrow, January 29), I'd say the best way to describe the series is Good Will Hunting meets The Da Vinci Code – imagine Will Hunting solves the world’s most uncrackable code – which Woodall and Swindell confirm are very much films that were part of its inspiration.
"Good Will Hunting was one of the movies that Brady [Hood, who worked on the Netflix series Top Boy,] had used as an inspiration," Woodall told TechRadar. But there are plenty of others, too. "Brady had [film] references for the general tone [of the series] and one that he suggested that I really love, because I'm a massive fan of Gary Oldman, was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Swindell added.
The show's writer, Steve Thompson – who wrote the screenplays for Vienna Blood, Sherlock, and Doctor Who – also drew inspiration from 1970s thrillers like Alan J. Pakula's 'paranoia trilogy' (Klute, The Parallax View and All the President’s Men). Woodall and Swindell are both fans of the genre, especially the thriller series Mr Robot, which Swindell said she really liked.
While Prime Target isn't pitched as a thriller, its sporadic action sequences (there are only a handful) make it more exciting than your typical drama, and although it's not one of the best Apple TV Plus shows – the few critics that have rated it so far on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes have given it an average score of 42% – audiences are intrigued.
A cybersecurity puzzle of epic proportions
When I first heard about the show with a plot about finding patterns in prime numbers, I said that I thought I'd need my calculator for this mathematician mystery (hey, it's been a while since I've had to work out which numbers were divisible by one and itself).
So, if you're a math nerd, you'll love Prime Target. There are a number of subtle references throughout to major math concepts used every day. As an example, if you look closely at Edward's college room in episode 1, the golden ratio that was discovered by Italian mathematician Fibonacci is drawn all across his walls.
Cryptography is at the center of the plot, though, which is where prime numbers come in, as these are essential to the Rivest–Shamir–Adleman cryptosystem that many computers rely on to encrypt data.
Playing such an academic character is also an area that's new to Woodall, who was attracted to the role because of its unfamiliarity. "I was excited about doing all the writing. Even though it was hard work memorizing [all the math formulas], it was incredibly satisfying to get it all out there.
"But we would do these 10 minute takes of me writing it all out and, ironically, some of the cuts that they've used were mistakes that I genuinely made. I'd make a mistake and have to rub it out, and Brady used some of [those takes]. Some of the [takes] were me acting, but some of them were genuinely just authentic mistakes," Woodall said.
Will there be a Prime Target season 2?
There's no official word on whether Prime Target will get renewed by one of the best streaming services, but the ending (without spoiling anything) is somewhat open-ended and does not answer the question that no doubt everyone watching is asking by that point.
Whether that means a second season is being considered is up in the air. Indeed, I'm not sure where the show could go next, but Woodall did have some ideas: “Maybe Edward would want to learn how to fight bad guys, and learn the tech world, and get savvy with computers, and learn how to ride a motorcycle." I think I can see where he's going with this...
Indeed, it was a very different story for Swindell's character, Taylah Sanders, an outgoing agent that we see in many of the action sequences. "I was really shocked to get the opportunity to do way more stunt work. I feel like those kind of opportunities are very few and far between, so when this series came along and that was so much a part of it, I was like, ‘wow, there's no maybe, there’s only 100% yes’," Swindell said.
Another installment could very well see Woodall's math genius take on more thrill-seeking skills to better protect his big secret without the need for a character like Swindell's security agent, but I wouldn't count on this.
Prime Target's third episode, titled 'The Sequence,' will be released this Wednesday, January 29. The show's remaining five episodes will continue to premiere weekly until the finale airs on March 5.
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