Smoke: What Critics Are Saying About Taron Egerton's Apple TV+ Series

A new true-crime miniseries is coming to Apple TV+ and features a pretty stacked cast — so what do critics think of "Smoke," the latest effort from showrunner and writer Dennis Lehane?

First things first: "Smoke," which uses the podcast "Firebug" as its loose source material (as well as a true story, which I'll circle back to in just a bit) stars Taron Egerton (from the "Kingsman" films and "Rocketman"), Jurnee Smollett (who delivered a spectacular performance in "Birds of Prey" back in 2020), Adina Porter (a familiar figure in Ryan Murphy's extended universe), Rafe Spall ("Black Mirror," "The Big Short"), Anna Chlumsky (a "Veep" standout), and Hollywood mainstays John Leguizamo and Greg Kinnear. The gist here is that arson investigator Dave Gudsen (Egerton) and hard-boiled detective Michelle Calderon (Smollett) are trying to figure out who set a massive fire in the Pacific Northwest, and the answer is shockingly complicated (and comes with a huge twist, to boot).

Crime dramas are an industry staple these days, and it feels like there's a new entry into the genre on a basically constant basis. So what's the deal with "Smoke," and what do critics think of the first (and perhaps standalone) season that hits Apple TV+ on June 27?

Over on Rotten Tomatoes, "Smoke" has earned an average of 64% as of this writing with a critical consensus that reads, "'Smoke' obscures its appeal with coy plotting until it eventually lights a fire under its story, but commanding turns from Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett keep this drama watchable throughout." Across the mixed reviews for the new series, critics echo this exact sentiment.

On the positive side, Alan Sepinwall at Rolling Stone wrote, "It's not a coincidence that 'Smoke' becomes vastly more entertaining and complex the second that it turns all of its cards face-up." (This is a reference to the twist that happens quite early in the series.) For IGN Movies, Emma Fraser mused, "'Smoke' suffers from its overly ambiguous storytelling. Yet despite all the frustrations that presents, the performances by Egerton, Jurnee Smollett, and the rest of the ensemble make this an endlessly watchable and compelling series." In her review for TheWrap, Deidre Johnson said, "'Smoke' has everything fans of [Dennis] Lehane's books or TV shows have come to expect — mystery, action, violence, foreboding atmosphere — but this series also has dark comedy and bits of fantasy." Meanwhile, TVGuide's Keith Phipps was pretty direct: "The results aren't entirely satisfying, but the moments that click into place, particularly those spotlighting performances that strike the balance the series attempts, suggest it was worth a try."

Detractors, like The AV Club's Tim Lowery, didn't mince words either; as he put it, "'Smoke' has some real things to say about delusion, the stories we tell ourselves, and the trauma behind them. It's just too bad that its thrills so often flame out." Over at RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico wrote, "Forget suspension of belief—you've got to light it on fire to enjoy this one." Actually, a lot of critics went for fire-related digs, like Nina Metz at the Chicago Tribune: "Plenty of smoke. No fire." Finally, Nick Schager, in his review for The Daily Beast, simply said the entire thing is overwrought, calling "Smoke" a "show with about as much restraint as its fiends, sabotaging its frequently gripping action via a handful of crucial over-the-top contrivances."

Warning: If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now. (Although I'll say the trailer for "Smoke" makes it pretty clear what's really going on.) The show uses the real-life story of John Leonard Orr as its partial inspiration, in addition to the "Firebug" podcast. Orr, who worked as an arson investigator in California, was eventually unmasked as a prolific arsonist; over time, he set and subsequently investigated over 2,000 fires in the state. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the only reason Orr's crimes were ever revealed in the first place is because, in 1991, he started trying to sell a novel called "Points of Origin" — and as the outlet says, it was pretty obviously about Orr himself. "The hero of his manuscript, Phil, is a tenacious, gun-packing arson investigator in L.A.," it states. "The villain, Aaron, is a socially stunted pyromaniac who finds sexual arousal in the blazes he sets, and who uses his specialized knowledge as a veteran firefighter to escape detection."

Though Orr denied that the novel was actually based on him in an interview with the Times, it feels like that's probably not true, and the fact of the matter is that the novel's content ultimately led authorities to arrest Orr. The outlet also notes that, as of January 2025, Orr was still an inmate at Mule Creek State Prison in California.

"Smoke" drops on Apple TV+ on June 27, 2025, and if you feel so inclined, you can also check out "Firebug."