Duster, an action thriller series produced by J.J. Abrams, premiered on Max earlier this week, and it’s already impressing critics. Starring Lost alum Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson (This Is Us, Winning Time), the series is leaving its competition in the dust this week with an impressive Rotten Tomatoes rating that puts it among the must-watch streaming shows this month. Duster follows a getaway driver for a criminal organization that forms an unlikely alliance with a young government agent looking to take down his crime family.
Duster has a Certified Fresh 89% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with 27 reviews currently counted. The series, which premiered on Max (now titled HBO Max) on May 15, is currently a Top 10 most-watched series on the streaming platform as of May 16. The high-speed crime thriller created by Abrams and LaToya Morgan is the former’s first television project since 2013’s Almost Human. The filmmaker reunites with Holloway, who played Sawyer on Lost, largely considered the best character in one of the best shows of all time. Duster also marks one of the few projects between Bad Robot and Warner Bros. to come to fruition, but it seems it was well worth the wait.

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According to reviews, Duster is propelled by its stacked cast and impressive visuals, which hearken back to the 70s. Per Variety, the show isn’t “perfect” by any means, but “Its swag and stellar acting keep it fairly engaging, especially when it reaches its conclusion.” Holloway, of course, is as standout as the show’s brawny getaway driver, but according to RogertEbert.com, “the show is stolen by Hilson, who gets deeper and deeper into the Saxton underworld in an unpredictable and entertaining way.” Meanwhile, IGN Movies praised Duster for its aesthetic and a cast that keeps everything together.

“Held together by colorful ’70s stylings, Duster lives and dies on the charisma of its cast — and so it thrives whenever Josh Holloway and Keith David are at the wheel of its weekly misadventures.”

The Stacked Cast and Crew Behind ‘Duster’

In addition to Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson, the cast of Duster features Keith David, Sydney Elisabeth, Greg Grunberg, Camille Guaty, Asivak Koostachin, Adriana Aluna Martinez, and Benjamin Charles Watson. Behind the scenes, J.J. Abrams and showrunner LaToya Morgan created the series and act as executive producers. They also co-wrote the first two episodes, which were directed by Steph Green (The Americans). The official synopsis for Duster can be read below:

“Set in the 1970s Southwest, DUSTER explores the life of a gutsy getaway driver for a growing crime syndicate that goes from dangerous to wildly, stupidly dangerous when a tenacious young agent comes into town hellbent on taking his crime family down.”

Like the trailer teases, Duster was first conceived when Abrams imagined someone driving up to a phone in the middle of a desert to get their next task. Of course, it then evolved into something much more complex, and eventually, the creators introduced an FBI Agent into the mix.

“I had this image of a phone in the middle of the desert and a car driving up, and a guy getting on the phone to find out where he was meant to go next. It implied some kind of crazy intrigue, and I didn’t know what the answer was, but I knew it was compelling.”

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Variety, IGN,

Duster

Release Date

May 14, 2025

Network

Max

Directors

Steph Green