Cast of The Assassin (TV Series): Actors & Characters 2025

Keeley Hawes brings a retired assassin’s fractured calm to life in “The Assassin,” a British thriller that premieres on Prime Video this July. Opposite her, Freddie Highmore plays Edward Green, an investigative journalist whose arrival on her secluded Greek island pulls her back into a world she spent a decade escaping. Richard Dormer rounds out the central cast as Damien Hammond, a figure from Julie’s former life who knows exactly what she’s capable of.

Release Year: 2025 · Platform: Prime Video · Episodes: 6 · Creator: Harry Williams, Jack Williams

Who plays Damien in The Assassin?

Richard Dormer takes on the role of Damien Hammond, Julie’s former handler who managed the logistics of her contract killing career. His character resurfaced in Season 1, bringing with him an unsettling familiarity with Julie’s professional history. The Radio Times describes Damian as someone who “managed payments and tasks for Julie’s killings,” positioning him as both a remnant of her past and a potential threat to her quiet life.

Dormer’s Damian functions as a narrative bridge between Julie’s current existence and the violent world she abandoned. Though spelling varies across sources between “Damien” and “Damian,” the character’s function remains consistent: he represents the machinery of the assassin trade that Julie tried to leave behind.

Richard Dormer as Damian

The pattern becomes clear across Dormer’s work: characters who operate in grey zones, neither pure antagonists nor straightforward allies, tend to recur. Damian fits that mould perfectly.

Who is Edward’s dad in The Assassin?

The series explores Edward’s parentage through layered reveals rather than straightforward exposition. Edward Green (Freddie Highmore) visits his estranged mother Julie on a secluded Greek island, but the show withholds details about his father deliberately. Rotten Tomatoes notes the series “tests the dysfunctional mother-son relationship,” suggesting parental complexity runs deeper than simple estrangement.

Plot connections to cast

The cast connections tie directly to Edward’s investigation into his family history. His fiancée Kayla Cross (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is the daughter of billionaire Aaron Cross (Alan Dale), whose company Cross Global Mining becomes entangled in the story’s central mystery. Julie’s former network—including Damian and Sean—each hold fragments of Edward’s family history that emerge as the season progresses.

“Crafted by writers Harry and Jack Williams, the narrative follows the pair as they are compelled to flee when Julie’s history as a professional killer resurfaces.”

— Radio Times

What this means: Julie and Edward’s flight isn’t just physical—it mirrors the collapse of the carefully maintained fiction that separated his journalist life from her lethal past.

Is The Assassin worth watching?

For viewers drawn to contained thrillers with strong lead performances, “The Assassin” delivers a focused six-episode arc. Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore anchor the show with committed performances, while the Greek island setting provides visual isolation that amplifies the tension. The Rotten Tomatoes synopsis describes the series as testing “their dysfunctional relationship to its limits,” which serves as the story’s emotional engine.

Pros and cons

Which Greek island is The Assassin filmed on?

“The Assassin” films on Skorpios Island, a private Greek island that gained international attention when the late Aristotle Onassis’s family sold it to a Russian-born businessman in 2013. The island has since been developed into a luxury resort called Elxis, though production access allows the show to exploit its dramatic coastline and secluded villas.

Skorpios island details

The location choice is more than cosmetic—Skorpios’s privacy and Mediterranean setting reinforce Julie’s desire for isolation from her former life. Wikipedia confirms Skorpios Island as the primary filming location, and the show uses the island’s geography to create genuine visual separation from the modern world.

The implication: Hawes’s character inhabits a location so exclusive it functions almost as a character itself, raising the stakes of her isolation far beyond typical “retired to the countryside” thriller setups.

Is there a season 2 of The Assassin?

Yes, “The Assassin” has been officially renewed for a second season. Wikipedia reported on November 7, 2025, that development was underway, confirming the series would return to Prime Video. Specific details about returning cast, production timeline, and premiere date remain forthcoming.

Announcement details

The Season 2 announcement came without an official premiere window or full cast confirmation. Based on typical production timelines for international co-productions, viewers should expect a 12–18 month gap between announcement and release.

Returning cast

While Prime Video has not confirmed specific returning cast members, the central performers—Keeley Hawes, Freddie Highmore, and Richard Dormer—represent the emotional core of the series. Their return would align with the story’s continuation, though official announcements typically come closer to a premiere date.

The catch: Hawes’s Julie must now navigate returning to the screen without the isolation that defined her Season 1 arc—how writers handle that tension will determine whether the sophomore run can sustain the original’s atmosphere.

Related reading: Good Movies to Watch: Top Picks from IMDb, Netflix & More · Strictly Come Dancing Tonight Live – BBC Schedule, Stream and Results

Keeley Hawes leads alongside Freddie Highmore and Richard Dormer as Damian, with the complete cast breakdown offering deeper insights into their characters and the espionage narrative.

Frequently asked questions