Yesterday was the premiere of a new Amazon Prime Original series, “The Widow,” starring Kate Beckinsale.

It’s definitely binge-worthy, and I have high standards.

There’s a mystery involving Kate’s husband’s death (or did he die?) in a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo three years before the opening scene, where we see Kate as a sad, lonely and injured widow living in scenic coastal Powys, Wales.

There’s more gorgeous cinematography throughout by Stuart Howell and John Lee: the jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo; its capital city, Kinshasa; Rotterdam, where two blind lovers meet, one an Icelandic man who claims to have been the only survivor of the crash.

Kate Beckinsale in The Widow. Image by IMDb.

Besides Beckinsale, there are some sterling performances here:

Babs Olusanmokun, who plays a Congolese man whose wife also died on the flight, and who helps Beckinsale when she goes to the DRC after she sees some video of riots in present-day Kinshasa where she thinks she spots her husband;

The always debonair Charles Dance;

Olafur Darri Olafsson, the popular Icelandic actor who plays the role of the Icelander in the show (even before seeing the cast credits I could tell he was an Icelander by his looks, even though I hadn’t seen his previous work– lol. 🙂

And many other great supporting actors.

Oliver Blackburn and Samuel Donovan each directed 4 episodes, and the writing credits for the entire run are shared by Harry Williams and Jack Williams.

There are 8 installments in the series. I’m only on the second one, but I think I’m going to lose some sleep tonight watching! 🙂