Untamed starring Eric Bana, Sam Neill, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Lily Santiago traverses Yosemite National Park to solve the murder. Throughout the six episodes of the modern western, viewers meet a variety of characters who live, work, and visit the scenic expanse, learning about their trials and tribulations. One thing becomes clear very early on — the great outdoors of Yosemite isn’t really that great.
Bana plays Kyle Turner, a special agent in the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch, with a foul, standoffish demeanor. When Turner is called to investigate a mysterious body in Yosemite, it appears as though she perished in a climbing accident, but that quickly proves misleading. The victim had been shot, bit, and had numerous abrasions, all indicative of a much more violent demise.
As Turner and rookie National Park Ranger Naya Vasquez (Santiago) investigate who the woman is and what happened to her, Turner’s past is brought to the forefront. Turner and his former wife, Jill Bodwin (DeWitt) lost their young son several years before Untamed begins, but both still grieve the boy’s death with every breath. His mentor, Chief Ranter Paul Souter (Neill) tries to keep Turner in check, albeit with mixed results. The complex web of lies, murders, and crimes that come to light in Untamed accompany ever-present reminders that the wilds of Yosemite are just that — wild — and dangers exist at every turn.
‘Untamed’ Is Pretty to Look at, But Deceptively Serene and Peaceful
Untamed is set in the mountains and forests of Yosimite Park. Like its setting, Untamed starts off pretty and alive, but the show turns ugly with the death of a mysterious woman. The death is attributed to an accident to try to keep concerns about animal attacks at bay, but National Parks Service Investigative Services Agent Kyle Turner isn’t convinced. The gritty, abrasive investigator has antagonized local authorities for years, and it appears as though he’s continuing down that path.
When Turner teams up with former Los Angeles police officer Naya Vasquez, now a park ranger, he teaches her about what it’s really like to work in Yosemite. Instead of a car, he’s steadfast in his assertions that horseback is best — a reality Vasquez still feels the next day thanks to the unpleasant hours she spent in the saddle. As Turner and Vasquez explore the forests looking for clues, they come upon signs of predators — human and animal alike — and ultimately uncover an entire drug-running enterprise.
As Turner and Vasquez continue to do their jobs, Teddy, a local drug addict, turns up dead. They interview squatters in the park and find a cave where the drug activity is based. Vasquez nearly drowns when she discovers the cave, but Turner manages to save her in time. Turner talks to wildlife management officer Shane Maguire (Wilson Bethel) about the murders and his possible role in the drug activities, something that gets him suspended and shot at, too. Through it all, nature remains unrelenting as the body count continues to rise.
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Everyone Is Running From Something in ‘Untamed’
Kyle Turner and his ex-wife, Jill, represent how grief can drive people away from each other while simultaneously connecting them forever. Their son Caleb’s death years earlier led to Turner’s excessive drinking, but he continued to call Jill at all hours. Jill, for her part, remarried but never actually commits to her new life. It’s impossible for them to move forward, an understandable truth amid their pain.
Turner is really only able to function when he’s working and, due to his diligence, he discovers secrets about everyone around him. The mysterious woman who was killed, Lucy Cook, had been running since she was a child. Previously believed to be missing, Lucy had been in an abusive family before being sent to foster care, an arguably worse scenario. When Lucy later returned to Yosemite, she lived in the park and became involved in an underground drug ring. Vasquez, for her part, is running from her son’s father. She left an abusive relationship in Los Angeles, hoping to never see him again, but he ultimately finds them in the park.
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‘Untamed’ Is a Reminder That You Can’t Outrun Your Past
Kyle Turner and his former wife, Jill, are keeping a secret. They’re hiding from the truth about what happened to Sam Sanderson, the man who killed Caleb. Jill tells her new husband, Scott, about what she did:
Without telling Kyle, I paid Shane to contact Sanderson, blackmail him, meet him in the park, and kill him for murdering my child…. Kyle only found out when Sanderson was reported missing. I think, more than anything, more than losing Caleb, it was me betraying Kyle that ended us. He couldn’t get past it.
Kyle knew about this and didn’t approve. It also couldn’t bring Caleb back, which is why he refuses to leave the park for any other job. His memories of Caleb are there, his life with his son surrounds him, and he can’t break away, despite advice from Chief Park Ranger Paul Souter. Souter reminds him that his memories are going to be with him anywhere he goes during a touching scene that highlights Sam Neill’s acting acumen.
The relationship between Kyle and Souter sours when the former learns about another secret. Souter had an affair with Lucy’s mother and only learned about Lucy after she died. He sent Lucy away and, when she returned to ask for help, he refused. Lucy kept pushing and threatened Souter, leading him to accidently shoot her. In the end, this compelled Lucy to take her own life in the park. When Turner confronts Souter, the latter also takes his own life.
Maybe Untamed is a lesson in confronting one’s personal demons and, at the very least, a wake-up call that the truth will always find you. Ultimately, for a place that is supposed to be quiet and away from the complexities of modernity, Yosemite is full of threats.
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Untamed
- Release Date
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July 17, 2025
- Network
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Netflix
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