Netflix has confirmed a second season of Untamed, the character-driven mystery thriller set in Yosemite National Park, following its strong performance on the platform since premiering on 17 July.
The news of a Season 2 was reported first by Variety.
Initially announced as a limited series, Untamed debuted at number one on Netflix’s global Top 10 English-language shows chart for the week of 14–20 July, with 24.6 million views in its first few days of release. The series more than doubled the viewership of its nearest competitor during the same period.
The series follows Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), a National Parks Service special agent responsible for enforcing federal law in remote natural landscapes.
The central mystery that Turner must solve is the death of a young woman found at the base of El Capitan. A number of unknowns haunt him, including the victim’s identity, potential foul play, and the hidden dangers lurking within the park’s wilderness. As he teams up with rookie ranger Naya Vasquez to uncover the truth, dark secrets of the park and Turner’s own troubled past begin to emerge.
The cast also includes Sam Neill, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lily Santiago, Wilson Bethel, Raoul Max Trujillo, William Smillie, Joe Holt, and Josh Randall.
ScreenHub’s review of Untamed
‘Described by one of the rangers on the cliff top as “Gary fucking Cooper”, Kyle Turner (Bana) is basically the top cop at the park, which is only part of the reason why all the park rangers – apart from the Chief Ranger, Paul Souter (Sam Neill, who together with Bana gives the park a distinctly Antipodean vibe) – hate him.’ wrote our reviewer Anthony Morris.
‘At first, he just seems like a hardass,’ he continued, ‘Then it turns out he’s a hardass who’s back on the bottle and struggling to recover from a divorce that his ex, Jill (Rosemary DeWitt) has clearly put behind her. He’s also living in a decaying shack on park grounds, just in case you hadn’t picked up on the way that everything in his life but his police work is falling apart.
‘Here the good stuff is Bana’s performance. The slow start is as much about establishing him as a character as it is digging into the details of the crime or introducing the supporting cast, and while Bana’s American accent takes a little getting used to at first, everything else about him is spot on.’
ScreenHub: Untamed review: come for the scenery, stay for Eric Bana
‘As a burnt-out detective with a broken home life and nothing left to live for but the bottle and the job, Turner’s a familiar type. Bana’s an inherently likeable performer, which gives him scope to make Turner legitimately unpleasant early on – by murder mystery standards at least.’
Morris gave it 3.5 stars, concluding that Untamed is ‘a solid story well told that serves up plenty of revelations and developments but not all that many real surprises. Come for the scenery, stay for Bana’s slow thawing.’ Read the full review here.
Untamed‘s critical reception
According to Netflix, the show’s first season was met with a positive critical response, holding an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In Variety, reviewer Aramide Tinubu highlighted the show’s use of Yosemite’s landscape and its inclusion of themes such as past investigations, Indigenous knowledge, and interpersonal dynamics.
Untamed is created by showrunners Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith, who also serve as executive producers. Additional executive producers include Eric Bana, John Wells and Erin Jontow for John Wells Productions, Todd Black and Tony Shaw for Escape Artists Entertainment, Steve Lee Jones for Bee Holder Productions, and Cliff Roberts for Syndicate Entertainment. Warner Bros. Television produces the series.
Further details about Season 2, including production timelines and release dates, have not yet been announced.
![The Creators: [L-R] Tamara Asmar, Anna Barnes, Sarah Bassiuoni, Glen Dolman, Michelle Offen, Jessica Tuckwell, Monica Zanetti. Images supplied.](https://www.screenhub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2025/07/the-creators.webp?w=280)
