Firmly remaining among Netflix‘s top four most-viewed TV series since its premiere on July 17, 2025, Untamed has been officially renewed for Season 2. Billed as a crime drama miniseries created by daughter-father duo Elle and Mark L. Smith, one way to improve Season 2 of the acclaimed murder mystery series is to up the tempo and increase what some fans have called a slow-burning pace.

‘Untamed’ Is Netflix’s Latest Hit Mystery Series

Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, Twisters) and his daughter, Elle Smith, created Untamed as a new six-part miniseries for Netflix. Set in the sprawling expanse of California’s Yosemite National Park (shot in Canada), the story concerns National Park Service special agent Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), a gruff and not-so-friendly detective reeling over the death of his young son, Caleb, who died inside the park years before.

When an unidentified woman falls from the large rock structure, El Capitan, Kyle investigates whether it was an accident, suicide, or murder. Kyle teams with his new partner, Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago), a rookie agent from Los Angeles. Both agents report to Chief Park Ranger Paul Souter (Sam Neill), who has the most experience in the park. The closer Kyle becomes to solving Jane Doe’s murder, the more he thinks about Caleb’s death, a painful memory he shares with his ex-wife, Jill (Rosemary DeWitt).

When another death occurs in the park, a larger conspiracy relating to a drug dealer complicates matters. While it turns out to be a distracting red herring that throws Turner and Vasquez off the real culprit’s trail, Untamed is a compelling character-driven murder mystery that stands out thanks to its vast natural environment and stunning scenery.

‘Untamed’s Critical and Audience Reception

Since its Netflix debut on July 17, 2025, Untamed has remained among the top two most-viewed TV shows in the U.S. With that kind of popularity, Netflix extended what was originally planned to be a miniseries into a second-season drama. That puts pressure on the Smiths to craft an entirely new story from scratch. Yet, with such pressure also comes the creative freedom to take the new season in any direction, including a shakeup in tempo and pacing. First, a look at how Untamed has been received is in order.

Untamed currently has an 80% Tomato Meter score and 71% Popcorn Meter score on Rotten Tomatoes. With four out of five critics giving the series a positive review, the consensus reads:

“Wrangled by Erica Bana’s steady star power, Untamed‘s solid murder mystery is elevated by the visually sumptuous backdrop of its Yosemite National Park milieu.”

Less favorable on Metacritic, Untamed holds a 62 Metascore and 58 User Score, which is slightly below the show’s 7.2 IMDb rating. Although critics are more supportive, many fans have complained that the show lags too long and takes its sweet time to get to the action. The slow burn is too slow for some, despite the show only lasting six episodes.

How ‘Untamed’ Season 2 Can Improve Its Perceived Pacing Problems

Beyond the familiar and formulaic, the most common complaint about Untamed relates to its slow-burning tempo. If the Smiths heed these complaints in a good-faith effort to improve the series, the easiest way to improve from Season 1 to Season 2 is to accelerate the pacing.

Two sterling examples in this regard are Alien and Aliens. Ridley Scott’s original Alien is a slow-burning sci-fi horror outing that masterfully mounts dreadful tension and suspense from beginning to end. By deliberate contrast, James Cameron’s Aliens is a much faster-paced, hypermilitant affair that bombards viewers with relentless action and gunfire. Both are considered genre classics that take different approaches to the same universe — Alien with slow-burning suspense, and Aliens with full-throttle action — without falling into repetition.

For any successful TV show, repeating what made the first iteration a success is an easy and convenient play. However, that almost always leads to a decrease in quality and a sophomore slump that is quickly forgettable. If the Smiths truly want to set Season 2 of Untamed apart from Season 1, taking the James Cameron-like approach to Aliens is a surefire way to do so.

Of course, what complaining fans may fail to realize is that the leisurely pace in Untamed is done so purposefully. This is best reflected in the dynamic between Turner and Vasquez. Turner has been in Yosemite so long that he can’t even remember what life was like on the outside. By contrast, Vasquez arrives from Los Angeles and often mentions how she needs to adjust to a much different, sleepier environment where times slow down, and the crime rate is far lower and less frequent than in L.A.

As Vasquez becomes more comfortable in Yosemite, she expresses to Turner that she is beginning to enjoy the slower pace of life and the calming tranquility that living in nature affords. Indeed, Yosemite is a character in Untamed, with its natural splendor meant to be absorbed, appreciated, and lingered over. Enjoying the resplendent scenery may not appeal to the short-attention-span TikTok crowd, but if they can’t get through six episodes without complaining about the pacing, then Untamed is probably not for them to begin with.

But again, if the deliberate pace was intentional when the show was conceived as a miniseries, then there are no limits to what can be changed now that the miniseries tag has been lifted, with more episodes to come. Accelerating the action could be an ideal way to reinvigorate the series moving forward and gain a new audience. Perhaps the title Untamed will connote a wild animal attack or another ferocious incident, which inherently increases the action-packed pacing. Either way, a faster-moving second season of Untamed can’t hurt anyone. Untamed is available to stream on Netflix.

UNTAMED ｜ Official Teaser ｜ Netflix

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