KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — “Holy hell” was actor Lily Collias’ reaction to learning that Patrick Wilson, Amy Adams and Javier Bardem were going to be the leads of Apple TV’s take on the classic thriller Cape Fear.

Collias happens to be playing Wilson and Adams’ daughter in the movie with Bardem playing Max Cady, a role with huge shoes to fill, after Mitchum and de Niro had both played the role.

You would need a solid, and perhaps brave, ensemble to take on a remake of a film, or more correctly films, that also had the likes of Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro.

“I try to do my own thing,” Bardem said, adding that he felt relieved that in the script he was given the room to do his own take.

Adams, who plays Ana Bowden, the lawyer who might or might not have done a good job defending Cady, said that being on set with Bardem and seeing him “turn the dial” from his usual nice, personable self to a terrifying persona was “horrifying.”

She described it as like being on set and thinking in her scenes with Bardem, “Oh we’re OK...no, we’re not OK.”

How far can tension go?

The thing about thrillers is whether they’re books or movies, you’d think they would work better in one setting than dragged out.

It’s especially risky when the most recent version (before this one) of Cape Fear is considered one of the best films ever made.

Yet if you’ve read the book it’s based on (The Executioners by John D. MacDonald) and watched both film versions, you would note that none are exactly alike, with different endings or slightly varied plot points.

If you, like me, have never gone near the story, perhaps it might be easier as you have no preconceived notions besides oh, Javier Bardem and Amy Adams? Hand me the remote.

Nick Antosca, who was not just the writer but showrunner and executive producer of Cape Fear, said that he called his take Southern Giallo.

“It’s lurid and horrific, but also brightly coloured and vivid.”

He set it in Savannah where he had spent a lot of time and that he felt lucky to be able to have his own solid ensemble going in, considering the iconic names associated with previous versions of Cape Fear.

What sets Apple TV’s Cape Fear apart is having Wilson and Adams playing married lawyers with Bardem being, on the surface, a victim of the justice system.

Antosca leaned into the moral ambiguity of his retelling, saying: “We live in this world where we read a story where someone is the villain, someone is the victim. And then you might read a different news story, and the roles were reversed in the same story. I think that kind of moral ambiguity is very contemporary.”

What to expect

With Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, the director of the second Cape Fear, both executive producing, it’s right to expect a high bar for this retelling.

For the most part, Cape Fear delivers.

With TV, you get to see more of a character beyond them just reacting in the moment.

The persistent dread, the overlaying of guilt and fear, Adams portrays deftly to the point her stretched, strained nerves become the viewers’.

Bardem, as always, is infinitely watchable and even as the antagonist is almost too charming not to believe and it’s to his and the script’s credit that you begin questioning who to root for.

If you like a slow burn that creeps up on you like guilt and past scores, give Cape Fear a watch.

Just don’t expect the exact same experience or even story from the previous two movie versions so prepare for a few, mostly good, surprises.

The first two episodes of Cape Fear will begin airing this Friday, June 5, with new episodes each Friday through July 31, 2026, only on Apple TV.