Banshee Review: Is Antony Starr’s Four-Season Crime Drama Worth It?

When somebody asks me for an intense, violent and completely unrestrained television series, Banshee is one of the first titles that comes to mind. It premiered in 2013, but it still feels remarkably immediate. I originally came to it looking for something to fill the gap left by The Boys, and I quickly understood why it had developed such a following.

This is not subtle or particularly elegant television. It does not even pretend to be. Banshee charges straight into confrontation and rarely stops to apologise. Its greatest achievement is how addictive it becomes despite — and sometimes because of — its excesses.

A ridiculous premise that works surprisingly well

A former prisoner is released after a long sentence and ends up stealing the identity of the sheriff of a small town called Banshee. What follows is a chain of increasingly dangerous decisions, enemies and fights. Just when you think the situation cannot get worse, the show finds another way to raise the stakes.

I will not pretend the plotting is consistently believable. It isn’t. Some characters make absurd choices, some conflicts resolve predictably and the violence often feels gratuitous. Yet the show works because it establishes its own outrageous rules and commits to them. You either accept that world or decide very quickly that it is not for you.

Violence is the attraction — and the weakness

Physical confrontations are not occasional highlights in Banshee; they are part of its structure. The fights are extended, punishing and unusually brutal for television. Episodes of roughly 50 minutes pile one crisis on top of another until the pace almost becomes a test of endurance for the audience.

That relentlessness is exhilarating when everything clicks. It can also become excessive. Unlike some more psychologically precise crime dramas, Banshee is willing to sacrifice realism for the impact of the next confrontation. For viewers looking for tight plotting or restrained violence, that trade-off may be hard to forgive.

Antony Starr and the character who refuses to stay down

Antony Starr plays Lucas Hood, the ex-convict at the centre of this impossible situation. Hood fights practically everyone, takes an astonishing amount of punishment and somehow keeps getting back up. Starr’s physical presence and unsettling confidence are a major reason the series remains so engaging.

Having watched him as Homelander in The Boys, I found it fascinating to see earlier traces of the same charisma: the disturbing smile, the unpredictable expression, the way he can seem both magnetic and threatening. Banshee is rougher and less sophisticated, but it reveals a great deal about his range as a performer.

Starr also made his mark in Outrageous Fortune, the New Zealand series in which he played two different characters. Seen alongside these later roles, his career is an interesting reminder that an actor can make even an outrageous premise compelling.

Four seasons that still feel remarkably fresh

What surprised me most is how well Banshee has aged. Its cinematography, editing and tempo do not feel stranded in a different era of television. Rather than fading as the seasons progress, it often grows bolder and more spectacular, especially during its third season.

One of the sequences in episode 3×08 left an especially strong impression on me for the scale of its action. It is the kind of moment that makes you appreciate just how far the series is prepared to go to entertain its audience.

Is Banshee a great series?

Not in the same way that Breaking Bad or The Wire are great. It lacks their precision, consistency and psychological depth. But that is not what I go to Banshee for. I watch it for raw energy, momentum and a willingness to embrace its own outlandish character.

Compared with The Boys, it is less satirical and less interested in social commentary, but it is arguably even more physical and ferocious. Compared with a carefully structured crime series, it is less coherent and more impulsive. And yet few shows in this space have been as difficult for me to stop watching.

My verdict: If you want realistic storytelling, sophisticated writing and logical decisions at every turn, skip it. If you are willing to accept its flaws and surrender to the sheer adrenaline, Banshee is one of the most brutal and addictive action series I can recommend. It is far from flawless, and that distinction matters — but I had a great time with it.

For another kind of violent, character-driven crime drama, you can read our review of MobLand. The more detailed original opinion is available in my Spanish review of Banshee.

Antony Starr went on to show a very different kind of menace in The Boys, whose ending and wider legacy we have also examined.