Keeley Hawes: ‘My Amazon thriller isn’t a family show – women in their 80s love it’

The Assassin’s soared up the charts after the release of season 2 (Picture: Mark Cassar/Amazon Prime Video) ‘For a woman on HRT, I think I did really f**king well here.’ This isn’t a line you might expect to hear an assassin say in a TV thriller, but that’s what makes Amazon Prime Video’s The Assassin so refreshing. Despite being caught up in over-the-top criminal plots, the lead characters feel authentic – especially when the titular assassin is talking about being on hormone replacement therapy moments after beating up a horde of corrupt police officers. Former hitwoman Julie (Keeley Hawes) is in her 50s, probably the most deadly woman you’d ever meet, and trying to salvage her relationship with her son, Edward (Freddie Highmore). Edward is a journalist who, in season 1, was shocked to learn about his mother’s profession… as well as his true parentage. By the finale, they appeared to patch things up after previously being estranged. However, in season 2, they’re ‘back to square one’ after ‘something dramatic’ happens that shatters the trust between them, Keeley told Metro. He’s reluctantly forced to call on his mother’s help after his wife Kayla (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is kidnapped on their honeymoon. Despite their rift, Julie will do anything to help her son and save her daughter-in-law, using every lethal skill at her disposal. The Assassin soared up Amazon Prime Video’s charts when it premiered in 2025. It became the highest-rated UK original drama of the year according to overnights.tv, with a high of 1.6 million people watching it in the first seven days. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Julie (Keeley Hawes) and Edward (Freddie Highmore) are more similar than they realise (Picture: Amazon Prime Video/Mark Cassar) While speaking to us with her on-screen son Freddie, Keeley revealed that she’s had a ‘brilliant reaction’ from viewers over her portrayal of Julie, particularly from an ‘interesting demographic’ of people. ‘Lots of my mother-in-law’s friends really love the show, and I’m talking about women in their 70s and 80s that you might not necessarily have down as fans of a show called The Assassin, but they love it,’ the Bodyguard star, 50, said. ‘I’m not sure that it’s a family show as such. It’s quite spicy, some of the language. But having said that, my mother-in-law’s friends, my son’s friends, they watch it with their families too. Something everyone can watch.’ Most of Edward’s stunt work is being hit and thrown around Quote Quote The Assassin doesn’t hold back on the expletives, nor its gruesome violence. In the first episode of season two, we see a man attempt to jump from one roof to another, misjudge the distance, slam his head against the ledge (resulting in a horrifying burst of his blood), and then splatter to his death on the ground. While wielding guns is as natural to Julie as breathing, the same can’t be said for Edward. While escaping a police station, Julie goes straight for the weapons in the armoury. Edward, on the other hand, kits himself in riot gear. A decision that ends up playing in his favour, despite Julie rolling her eyes at his overly cautious nature. Being violent doesn’t come naturally to Edward, but he’ll do whatever he can to save his wife (Picture: Amazon Prime Video) ‘Most of the stunt work, if you can call it stunt work, from Edward’s point of view, is just being hit and thrown around and falling onto the floor and needing to be saved,’ Freddie, 34, explained to Metro. ‘But he does run sometimes a little bit more quickly than he did in season one, so maybe there’s hope for him yet.’ One of Keeley’s favourite fight scenes took place in a car, when Edward is behind the wheel and Julie is engaged in a physical altercation with someone in the backseat. This double act do want to be together, but they would never admit it Quote Quote ‘We’re having a fight inside the car. There’s a karate sequence which I didn’t think I would ever be involved in, which is very unexpected, which also features a poodle,’ she recalled. ‘That’s the great thing about this show; you can never tell what’s coming up and they’re very cool. I think that’s what I like so much about them. They’re always believable with Julie grabbing the nearest thing she can find and hitting somebody over the head with it – it just feels real. It’s not sort of Bond slick. It’s like Bourne Identity slick.’ While audiences might be drawn in to watch The Assassin by the high-stakes action, it’s the complicated but relatable bond between Julie and Edward that makes this series unmissable. The Assassin is yet to be renewed for a third season (Picture: Amazon Prime Video) At the start of season two, their relationship has become so bad again that Julie didn’t receive an invitation to Edward’s wedding. Something happened on their trip to Berlin that caused a disastrous falling out – and yet, it’s not really beyond repair. ‘I think that’s the interesting thing: the only person that he can turn to is Julie, is his mother. Obviously there’s the superficial reason that he’s turning to her, which is someone’s been kidnapped and she knows how to deal with bad people,’ The Good Doctor star outlined. Freddie: It’s great fun to do all those scenes with Keeley Quote Quote ‘But I think really deep down he’s turning to her because she’s his mother and he needs her. Underneath everything in the show, there’s the bickering and the silliness and the fact that they always seem to be at odds, but underneath it, we know that actually they are more the same than different. This double act do want to be together, but they would never admit it as they’re swearing at each other and bickering and trying to do awful things.’ ‘I think that’s the thing about them. I think they are almost too similar,’ Keeley agreed. Freddie continued: ‘They’re sort of equals, sort of siblings or best friends. They kind of get out very quickly from the traditional mother-son dynamic. ‘Edward growing up, his mum was off killing people. They didn’t have the best of relationships, and so you see that now, where they’re able to say things to each other that most people, most mothers and sons wouldn’t be as direct about.’ Kayla (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is torn from newlywed bliss when she’s kidnapped on her honeymoon (Picture: Amazon Prime Video) The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory actor emphasised that the ‘unabashed honesty’ between Edward and Julie was ‘really fun and wonderful to play with Keeley’. ‘The two of us wondered from the very beginning over the way that we saw the show tonally and that shared sense of humour and the sensibility of it all. It’s great fun to do all those scenes with her,’ he added. So really, with Julie and Edward being so direct with one another, perhaps they actually have a healthy mother-son relationship? ‘Exactly,’ Freddie responded, laughing. ‘The epitome of what we should be striving for in whole family relationships.’ The Assassin seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. Deals of the Day 14,500 five-star reviews later, this cult sleep spray is discounted for Black Friday The Orlando holiday deal Disney fans shouldn't miss We're adding this discounted NEOM gift set straight to basket Want an LED face mask for less? 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