Apple Original crime series 'Smoke', from the same creative team behind 'Black Bird', gears up for premiere

Actor Taron Egerton returns in a long-form narrative on Apple TV+ with Smoke, created by Dennis Lehane, known for his books adapted for the big screen into acclaimed films such as Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone Baby Gone. The limited series will premiere with the first two episodes on June 27, with each subsequent episode streamed in the following weeks until the finale slated for release on August 15, 2025.

Based on actual events and the truth.media podcast 'Firebug' from the Academy Award and Emmy Award-winner Kary Antholis, Smoke is a crime drama that revolves around an arson investigator and a detective who, in an attempt to thwart a couple of serial arsonists, learn that there is more to the case than meets the eye. Egerton ("Kingsman") plays the arson investigator, while Jurnee Smollett essays the detective.

Other acclaimed cast members include Greg Kinnear (who also starred in Black Bird), Rafe Spall, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Anna Chlumsky, Adina Porter, and John Leguizamo.

Notably, Black Bird was also based on true events. A limited series, the Apple TV+ show from Lehane was an adaptation of the true-crime memoir 'In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption' by James Keene and Hillel Levin. Egerton portrayed a criminal forced to go undercover to get a confession out of a suspected serial killer (Paul Walter Hauser). For his performance, Hauser won the Emmy and Golden Globe awards. The show also fetched an Emmy for cinematographer Natalie Kingston for her work in the third episode.

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