Nov 07, 2026 7:00pm IST
‘Nocturne’ Review: Stephen Graham’s Chilling ‘Hannibal Lecter’ Turn Is The Highlight of This Noir Thriller
“Nocturne” on Apple TV opens with a bone-chilling scene that instantly establishes the power dynamic you can expect from the rest of the season. Stephen Graham is Jurek Walter, a serial killer incarcerated in the basement of the Riverside Psychiatric Hospital in a small Pennsylvania town. And without raising a single weapon, he can cause bloody murder in a cell separated from his own by brick and mortar. It almost foreshadows how much Graham’s performance as a Hannibal Lecter-adjacent serial killer will reel you in and keep you steadily engrossed in this noir thriller created by Rowan Joffé.
Related Stories
The lead of this series, though, is Liev Schreiber’s Jonah Lynn, a former soldier and homicide detective, grieving the loss of his wife and child, and moved to Western Pennsylvania in search of some peace. Of course, he isn't getting any, because a young boy named Michael Frost (Landon Valentin), who was presumed dead, suddenly appears alive on the scene like Lazarus, raising questions about the status of his missing sister, Felicia, too. The reopened case also tears at some old wounds for Jonah, who lost his partner while investigating Jurek years ago. He is convinced that Jurek, despite being in the secure facility, is somehow responsible for Michael’s reappearance.
Inadvertently pulled into the case is Jonah’s goddaughter and FBI agent Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), daughter of Jonah’s former partner, with her own vengeance against Jurek clouding her judgment as she goes undercover at Riverside to discern Jurek’s involvement. On the periphery of this investigation are the Frosts, dealing with their own grief, as well as Sheriff Dave Ellison (Bill Camp) and the new-to-town FBI special agent Alexandra Quinn (Poorna Jagannathan), who has arrived to oversee the investigations. Hovering over all of these characters, and the entire town, really, is the shadow of Jurek and the fear he wields, not through violence but through his words, and often, through his silences too.
“Nocturne” exchanges the Scandinavian setting of the Lars Kepler novels “Lazarus” and “The Sandman” that the series is based on for Pennsylvania. And the tight, claustrophobic production design and eerie score help retain the cold feeling one might get from watching the events unfold. Arriving on the heels of Apple’s “Cape Fear,” which similarly recycles a chilling villain of yore for a fresh generation, you might just miss how atmospheric it was when compared to “Nocturne”.
Popular on Variety
Which is why it’s great that “Nocturne” expends considerable screen time on exploring the mind of the sociopathic killer that is at the center of its story. Because that’s where the real juice is. And in the hands of Stephen Graham, Jurek is an irresistible puzzle that neither the audience nor the people around him can easily decipher. Watching Graham’s almost monk-like calm portrayal of Jurek, who occasionally lets his evil out in bursts, is a masterclass in acting. Matching his step is Zazie Beetz as Saga Bauer, whose character poses a similar mystery about the inner workings of her mind and how susceptible she is to Jurek’s mind games. Their dynamic, to quote a cliché, is rather “Silence of the Lambs,” but not quite, because something does seem to be missing here.
For all its merits — including a great supporting character roster that includes Rory Culkin as the Riverside nurse Karl Anders and Chrissy Metz as Michael Frost’s mother, Ida, alongside Camp and Jagannathan — “Nocturne” can’t help but appear a bit derivative. You’ll catch glimpses of some notable past entries in the genre, especially when it comes to Schreiber’s Jonah Lynn. He does the best he can with the material, but his character feels like every other protagonist in a familiar thriller we’ve seen before.
“Nocturne” is a decently gripping noir thriller that fans of the genre will enjoy, particularly for Stephen Graham’s spine-tingling turn. The first three episodes of this six-episode series are currently streaming on Apple TV, with new episodes weekly until November 27, 2026.
Comments are moderated. They may be edited for clarity and reprinting in whole or in part in Variety publications.