The Terminal List: Dark Wolf moves forward by going backward. The Prime Video franchise returns with a prequel and a focus on a different character. Audiences are told how Ben Edwards segued from Navy SEAL to CIA operator, with all the grey areas and dark corners in between. Viewers who enjoyed The Terminal List Season 1 will be just as satisfied by the prequel slash detour, which hits many of the same thematic and tonal notes.

Taylor Kitsch returns as Ben, and the actor’s familarity with the military genre is on full display in this show. He knows exactly what it takes to play an operator—not just technically but in how he carries himself and even how he delivers his lines. What adds a little extra fun to Dark Wolf is that Kitsch starred in American Assassin, the 2017 film that has a lot in common with this show. Both are based on book series, both are prequels telling the origin stories of their respective protagonists, and in both projects Kitsch played an SEAL turned CIA assassin. In that movie, though, he was the villain; in The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, he’s the hero.

That tone is set from the start with an opening scene that connects Dark Wolf to its predecessor. (Because of the prequel designation, viewers do not have to have seen Season 1 to appreciate this season, but it’s nice that co-creator David DiGilio included that connective tissue for those who did.) This is another military TV series that hammers home the ideas of brotherhood, sacrifice and operators having to work within a bureaucratic system that doesn’t understand the true realities of war. Viewers know what to expect, which is both a positive and a challenge across the seven-episode season.

From a critical standpoint, anyone expecting game-changing plot twists or sweeping emotional moments will be disappointed. This show isn’t attempting to shake things up or be overly dramatic. It won’t blindside anyone with its story, but it’s also not forcing emotion where it doesn’t fit, like Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness tried to do in its second outing. The Terminal List: Dark Wolf doesn’t ever try to be anything more than what it is: a solid and straightforward military drama, where audiences know who the good guys and the bad guys are, and the good guys never fail to put up a great fight.

Plot twists do exist, of course, and there are plenty of action scenes. But that predictability is also reliability. Fans are getting exactly what they want, whether it’s Kitsch and Chris Pratt battling terrorists, or rousing words about why these elite soldiers do what they do. There are also some solid new additions to the cast, including Luke Hemsworth and Burn Notice‘s Robert Wisdom as members of the CIA. The series capably delivers all the battles, grit and moments of camaraderie that action fans expect. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does check off every box without hesitation.

The biggest “but” in the room will be for anyone who saw The Terminal List Season 1. Viewers who know how that season ended will have a hard time forgetting it as they watch The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, and it might take them an episode or two to adjust to seeing Edwards as the protagonist. But DiGilio and book author Jack Carr, who is credited on the series as a co-creator and executive producer, do a fine job of explaining why Ben Edwards’ story deserves to be told. Whether someone is a returning viewer or a new one, audiences will be entertained by The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. The story might be going in reverse, but it’s more of the same unapologetic action.

The Terminal List: Dark Wolf premieres August 27 on Prime Video. Photo Credit: Justin Lubin/Courtesy of Prime Video.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.