‘Ride or Die’ series review: Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham are charming in this buddy comedy
A delightful friendship between an assassin and a politician's wife anchors this fast-moving action comedy packed with glittering locations, energetic chases and literary references
You don’t have any Active Subscription.
Your active subscription(s)
Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription
Products you've access to
Additional Subscription Benefits
Need help with your subscription?
A friendship between an assassin and a politician’s wife, on the run from a disgruntled Albanian mob and a furious killer, fuels this comfort watch across glittering locations and sturdy action sequences
Updated - July 22, 2026 07:00 pm IST
A still from ‘Ride or Die’ | Photo Credit: Prime Video
The retired assassin seems to be a constant fixture in action movies, and, in Ride or Die we have a different kind of killer. The series opens with Judith (Hannah Waddingham), disregarding her handler Sam’s (Calam Lynch) instructions to very publicly kill a nasty Russian. When she meets Sam after the mission, he tells her the firm has decided to retire her as she is a WOACA (Woman of a certain age).
Judith demands another chance, which Sam reluctantly arranges. Besides Judith’s mission that goes spectacularly wrong, we also see her best friend, Debbie (Octavia Spencer), the American wife of a British MP, David (Jamie Parker). Debbie loves shopping for antiques and plotting her husband’s rise to the premiership and 10 Downing.
Debbie has no idea about Judith’s secret profession, believing her to be a forensic accountant, a profession that sounds so boring as to kill any further questions, according to Judith. Judith’s latest job — doing away with Billy Donovan (Ed Skrein), from a crime syndicate, takes her to a gala, and into the path of Debbie and David. All hell breaks loose as bodies, truths and half lies tumble with alarming frequency and end up with a furious Debbie on the run with Judith.
Through eight episodes, the two friends hurtle from Britain, Calais, Barcelona, and Monaco, to Lyon, Geneva, Turkey and Mexico City, with Judith’s vengeful former work colleague, as well as a blood-thirsty Albanian mob and the Interpol in the form of courtly Jacques (Jacky Ido) on their tail.
There is mob money (£24 million) involved and all sorts of wild schemes to return it as well as corruption in high places. Ride or Die moves at a quick pace and the chemistry between Spencer and Waddingham has a charming lived-in feel. Spencer’s Debbie despite not having Judith’s elite training has common sense and decency to get the duo out of many sticky situations.
A still from ‘Ride or Die’ | Photo Credit: Prime Video
Bill Nighy is all silky sinister as the all-powerful Director and Judith’s employer. Skrein revels as the charming bad boy while Sylvia Hoeks, as the antagonist, is on the right side of destructive with her manic smile and tightly coiled energy.
The kind of glamour one has come to expect from these globe-trotting shows is there in every gleaming fixture of the Royal Andalusian Express, which the two friends take from Calais to Barcelona, where some more bodies and truths pile up.
There are fun details like the Lord of the Rings password required to enter the money man’s house being dismissed as “Nordor”, and the ease with which a character is tracked via social media feeds — Smiley would have been horrified.
Books feature in Ride or Die — fairly unusual for an action series. Apart from The Lord of the Rings, and the book club Judith and Debbie are part of, there is also mention of Judith being the first female assassin, when she slayed the Assyrian general, Holofernes. The Black Spot from Treasure Island also gets a starring role. It is interesting that Ride or Die is bookended by The Book of Judith and The Song of Deborah, both from The Old Testament. If books are not your thing, there is always good acting, energetic chases and ballistic shootouts to keep you amused.
Ride or Die is currently streaming on Prime Video
Published - July 22, 2026 06:57 pm IST
cinema / English cinema / streaming / television / reviews
Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
