Criminal TV Series Adds Star Wars Actress Adria Arjona

After years of trying to get adapted, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal is finally headed to television — and it has added yet another major star. On Tuesday, reports confirmed that Star Wars: Andor and Morbius star Adria Arjona has joined the cast of Prime Video’s Criminal series. Arjona is the second confirmed cast member for Criminal, following the recent casting of Richard Jenkins as Ivan.

Arjona will play Greta, who is described as a sharp-tongued top-level car thief and driver and the widowed mother of Angie. Ever since her husband died in a bank job gone bad, Greta has been battling with herself about how to escape the only life she’s ever known – and the only place she’s ever thrived. The problem is, she’s good at this. She’s looking for a big score, a lump of money she can use like a gun to shoot her and Angie out of this life and into another one.

What Is Criminal About?

The Criminal comic books weave a narrative tapestry out of the lives of various individuals committed to lives of crime who are connected by blood or consequence. Written by Brubaker with art by Phillips, the series was originally published under Marvel’s Icon imprint, and has been published by Image Comics since 2016. The series has spawned ten volumes in total thus far: Coward, Lawless, The Dead and The Dying, Bad Night, The Sinners, The Last of the Innocent, Wrong Time, Wrong Place, My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, Bad Weekend, and Cruel Summer. There have been years of attempts to adapt Criminal in live-action, beginning with a film adaptation that was set to be helmed by Kim Jee-Woon, but did not come to fruition. 

“Sean and I have been building this world in our books for over a decade, and now to be able to bring it to life for Amazon is just incredible. And to have Amazon support the project the way they have, and show so much faith in my and Jordan’s vision for the show is even more incredible,” Brubaker said in a press release when the series was announced.

“Criminal is a beloved graphic novel created by the most iconic team in the history of comics,” Nick Pepper, head of U.S. SVOD wholly-owned development at Amazon MGM Studios, said in a press release. “I know our global Prime Video customers will immediately embrace this story, and I look forward to working with Ed, Jordan, and the team to bring it to the screen.”

h/t: Variety