The Terminal List: Dark Wolf TV Review: Taylor Kitsch and Chris Pratt reunite for an intense prequel series

Plot: A prequel series with an origin story that follows Ben Edwards throughout his journey from the Navy SEALs to the clandestine side of CIA Special Operations. The series is an espionage thriller that explores the darker side of warfare and the human cost that comes with it.

Review: What clicks with audiences is not always what connects with critics. When the first season of The Terminal List premiered back in 2022, I found it to be an overlong revenge thriller that would have been better suited as a feature film. Despite lukewarm reviews, Prime Video quickly renewed the series and developed a prequel. The Terminal List: Dark Wolf centers on Ben Edwards, the close friend of James Reece, who met his death at the end of the first season of the flagship series. Taking a step back several years before the main series, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf chronicles how Edwards went from deployed SEAL to CIA operative involved in off-book missions vastly different than field combat. Executive produced by Chris Pratt, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf is not a revenge drama like the main series, but an action-oriented espionage tale that incorporates a realistic military style to a story you would expect to see in Mission: Impossible or a James Bond film. More engaging than The Terminal List, Dark Wolf is an exciting and intriguing limited series that enhances the experience of watching the series’s first season.

While The Terminal List was based on the first novel in an ongoing series chronicling James Reece (Chris Pratt) and his revenge on those who murdered his wife and daughter, Dark Wolf has a limited scope of storytelling real estate that leads into where the main series began. The series is unique in shifting the focus from a supporting character to the central protagonist, something only effectively done in Better Call Saul or Loki. Pratt reprises his role as Reece, in a limited supporting capacity, with Dark Wolf giving Taylor Kitsch room to develop who Ben Edwards is. The series opens with Edwards and Reece deployed in Iraq, where we also meet Lieutenant Raife Hastings (Tom Hopper), Iraqi Special Operations Forces officer Mohammed Farooq (Dar Salim), and CIA contractor Jules Landry (Luke Hemsworth). During a mission that goes sideways, we see why Edwards was discharged from duty and how he ended up part of the CIA. Part origin story and expansion of the dynamic between Reece and Edwards, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf immediately grabbed me more than the previous series.

Set over seven episodes, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf quickly transitions from military action to clandestine operations across Europe. Edwards and Hastings find themselves recruited by spymaster Jed Haverford (Robert Wisdom) to engage in a mission to prevent Iran from gaining traction with their nuclear program. Both Edwards and Hastings have reservations about the mission, but join Haverford’s team, which reunites them with Landry and Farooq as well as two Mossad veterans: operative Eliza Perash (Rona-Lee Shimon) and tech expert Tal Varon (Shiraz Tzarfati). The team is deployed on missions connecting to the central Iranian target, including street-level operations in various European locales. In one early mission, Tom Hopper emulates James Bond in a tux, offering the series a brief moment of levity in an otherwise gritty and serious narrative. The cast all work well together with Dar Salim, Rona-Lee Shimon, and Shiraz Tzarfati getting great characters to dig into, while Luke Hemsworth plays a bit against the similar roles he has played in recent years. Best remembered for his significant role in HBO’s The Wire, Robert Wisdom is a solid Mr. Phelps-style leader in the unit.

Taylor Kitsch gets to dig into Ben Edwards quite a bit in this series, taking center stage compared to his limited time in The Terminal List. The opening credits echo his eventual fate in The Terminal List, but the subtitle Dark Wolf is fitting as Kitsch explores how Edwards deals with the weight of his actions against the greater good. Kitsch stole his scenes in the previous series and gets much more to work with here, including his chemistry with Tom Hopper as brothers in arms and a spark with Rona-Lee Shimon. The series never entirely stops and spends time with overwrought character development, and instead peppers in tidbits about everyone along the way. The moments where the series begins to get preachy about brotherhood, politics, and the perils of war, the dialogue borders on cheesy, but just barely. The action in The Terminal List: Dark Wolf more than makes up for it with some gnarly violence that keeps the adrenaline pulsing through every episode, leading to a very explosive final episode.

Employing a writing team of veterans of active military duty, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf was created by author Jack Carr and David DiGilio. Expanding on the novels in The Terminal List series, Carr and DiGilio wrote the first and final episodes of the series, with Max Adams, Jared Shaw, Hennah Sekander, Kenny Sheard, and Naomi Iizuka credited on the other five. Directing duties were shared between Frederick E.O. Toye (Fringe, Shogun) on the first two chapters, Liz Friedlander (Fallout, The Boys) on the next two, and cinematographer Paul Cameron (Westworld, Mayor of Kingstown) on the final three. Each episode connects to what came before, with only the first two chapters slightly disjointed compared to the other five. Nevertheless, the accurate portrayal of military training and operations adds an element to this series that is often missing from espionage and action shows. What the series lacks in some narrative nuance, it makes up for with consistent action. That action sometimes shrouds clarity about what is happening, but if you are along for the ride, you will overlook the weaker parts of the story.

When a spin-off can enhance the experience of watching the series that inspired it, that is a win. The Terminal List: Dark Wolf is more engaging and balanced than The Terminal List, adding to my experience watching the 2022 series. Taylor Kitsch remains one of the more underutilized actors working today, and getting a showcase that expands on a character he previously played is a unique opportunity that he digs into. This series does not teeter on jingoism like The Terminal List did. However, it still shows the dangers of playing politics and how the best of what the United States military industrial complex offers can still be easily corrupted. More fun than The Terminal List but every bit as gritty and violent, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf is an entertaining, action-oriented drama that will please fans of the original series and excites me for season two of the Chris Pratt-led drama.

The Terminal List: Dark Wolf premieres on August 27th on Prime Video.