Prime Video’s New 8-Part Crime Thriller Based On Best-Selling Series Debuts With Solid Rotten Tomatoes Score

The series is based on Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling books about medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, who uses her skills and forensic technology to solve crimes across the 29 novels. Nicole Kidman plays the titular character in the Prime Video adaptation, with a cast of characters that also includes Scarpetta’s older sister, Dorothy (Jamie Lee Curtis), Dorothy’s daughter, Lucy Farinelli-Watson (Ariana DeBose), and former detective Pete Marino (Bobby Cannavale). Rosy McEwen plays a young Scarpetta, while Bobby’s real-life son, Jake Cannavale, plays young Pete in flashbacks.

On Rotten Tomatoes, Scarpetta has debuted with a “Certified Fresh” 77% critics’ score based on 22 reviews. The score will likely fluctuate as more are added, but this is a promising response to the series ahead of releasing all episodes on Prime Video on March 11. An audience score is not available yet ahead of the show’s debut.

In ScreenRant‘s Scarpetta review, Graeme Guttmann writes that “It feels fitting then that, while streaming television itself finds itself in the midst of its own identity crisis, a show like Scarpetta exists, tackling grounded, real-world issues like workplace misogyny, violence against women, and the insidiousness of Artificial Intelligence, while also enveloping its characters in a crime conspiracy that, quite literally, reaches out of the atmosphere.” He also praises McEwen’s portrayal of a young Scarpetta, explaining that it balances “Scarpetta’s tough exterior at work, necessary because of the constant, thinly-veiled misogyny rampant in government work, and the soft side she displays at home.”

In Variety‘s review, Aramide Tinubu is also impressed by Scarpetta and hails it for “excellent storytelling. Even as the narrative grows more complicated, the show manages to keep the audience grounded in the crimes and Kay’s methodology. It also showcases the thundering misogyny of a bygone era that still echoes around us today.”

Matt Roush at TV Insider argues that the show struggles with pacing, which leads to a dissatisfying ending, as by the time Scarpetta gets close to the killer in both narrative timelines, “we’ve experienced too many red herrings the size of Moby Dick, making the denouements feel almost as random as they are bloody.”

Given the overall positive critical reception and there being a wealth of source material to draw from, Scarpetta has the potential to become a long-running series for Prime Video. The streaming platform is also home to Reacher and Cross, two other famous literary characters who have no shortage of books written about them, and both of which are still releasing new seasons.

Scarpetta season 2 is already confirmed and filming is already underway as of March. Similar to Hulu’s Paradise and HBO Max’s The Pitt, starting season 2 production this early can help with the shows returning on an annual basis, which is becoming more of a rarity for streaming television.

Scarpetta was created by Liz Sarnoff, who serves as the showrunner and whose previous credits include Lost, Marco Polo, and Barry. The cast of characters also includes FBI profiler Benton Wesley (Simon Baker), a young Benton (Hunter Parrish), and Tiya Sircar as police officer Blaise Fruge.

All eight episodes of Scarpetta season 1 come to Prime Video on March 11.