Academy Award winner Riz Ahmed’s new Prime Video series Bait opens with a scene that’s almost painfully recognizable. With Ahmed’s character, Shah Latif, standing on a lavish movie set while playing a version of James Bond for an audition, it’s a moment that’s supposed to change everything; instead, the aspiring actor freezes, flubs his line, and quickly blames Ramadan for making him feel light-headed (hey, it happens). As the director casually points out, she watched him drink apple juice earlier, resulting in a punchline that’s entirely awkward, slightly cruel, and also very funny. That blend of discomfort with comedy becomes Bait’s driving engine. The more Shah tries to hold himself together across the easy-to-binge six-episode series, the more obvious that chaos becomes. He’s not just an actor fumbling the biggest opportunity of his life, but someone suddenly being watched from every angle. In that sense, Bait is also a pretty perfect title. For those outside of England, that particular slang leans heavily on the idea of being too easy to notice, and is exactly what Shah becomes the second his Bond audition starts to slip out into the world. What follows in the nearly 30-minute dark comedy-turned-psychological thriller is a spiral that is bigger than simple career panic. Shah’s not just dealing with the possibility of failure or experiencing imposter syndrome, but the kind of attention that turns a person into a projection for everybody else’s opinions, prejudices, and expectations. It’s also where Bait finds its sharpest ideas and, for the most part, pulls it all off. The series, which Ahmed has been developing for two years, is funny, specific, and emotionally bruised in a way that makes Shah’s downward spiral feel less like a performance and more like a very human reaction to being seen a little too clearly, abruptly, and for all the wrong reasons.
What Is ‘Bait’ About?

At its core, Bait follows Ahmed’s struggling actor Shah Latif, whose chance at playing Bond thanks to his agent Felicia (Weruche Opia) turns into something a little more destabilizing than a triumph. What feels like a career breakthrough quickly spills into his private life, including his family in Wembley, his cousin Zulfi (Guz Khan), and his complicated relationship with his ex Yasmin (Ritu Arya), all while Shah struggles to recognize himself once public attention (and criticism) start growing. Taking an interesting spin on the usual and tired tropes of the aspiring actor story, the series is less interested in whether Shah gets the part and more interested in what the possibility unlocks — or, in this case, unsettles. It’s this aspect that makes Bait feel a little slippery, but in a really effective way. It moves between industry satire, family comedy, social anxiety, and something much darker, without fully settling into one lane. One minute, Shah is dealing with the fallout of his audition or navigating a painfully public misunderstanding; the next, Bait unfolds the uglier side of that visibility through racist backlash and a specifically Islamophobic act of humiliation that pushes the story into thriller territory. It’s this beat, threaded carefully through Shah’s own fears, that widens his surrounding circle, with the Bond role secondary to everything it stirs up. What makes the show easy to fall into is also how naturally it builds that spiral. Nothing is ever rushed for the sake of chaos. Bait forces the audience to sit with every embarrassment, misfire, and private hurt long enough to understand what he feels. These pillars of pain continue to stack until we see Shah’s world start to feel both absurdly crowded and strangely lonely. By the time the show leans into his frayed perspective and psyche, it’s laid the foundation for a dark, aching turn that feels like an extension of the pressure he’s been carrying, courtesy of a surprising figure that haunts him throughout the series (Patrick Stewart).
‘Bait’ Has More on Its Mind Than Just a James Bond Audition

A screen displaying Riz Ahmed’s character in an article in BaitImage via Amazon Prime Video

Created by Ahmed and developed with a diverse writers’ room including Dipika Guha, Prashanth Venkataramanujam, Karen Joseph Adcock, Azam Mahmood, and award-winning novelist (and Ahmed’s wife) Fatima Farheen Mirza, the show approaches Shah’s unraveling with a mix of humor, discomfort, and cultural specificity. His anxiety over the audition is never just about his acting abilities, but more about what gets thrown onto him following a historically cishet white role that never cared to make space for a Brown man. Between his culture and the industry, Shah is constantly adjusting himself depending on the room he is in, mostly pleasing others before he can understand himself. Bait’s dark edge comes into focus when that criticism begins spilling into his day-to-day life. The harassment Shah and his family endure escalates into a hateful act, one that starts to reflect the pain he carries underneath all the noise — and the way he responds to it is rather disturbing, to say the least. While it’s a very interesting direction, what makes it work is how it never leans simply into shock value or explains its darker meanings. Instead, the writing builds something far more biting than a single act of cruelty. Under that pressure, the opportunity Shah once saw as a breakthrough feels less like recognition and more like exposure to his insecurities and the weight of scrutiny and expectation.

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At the same time, Bait never loses sight of the humor or cultural texture of Shah being a British Pakistani man. The family scenes feel lived-in and are among the show’s funniest, most heartfelt moments. Between Eid celebrations and casual Urdu insults when tempers flare, there is a warmth in these scenes that underscores the show. While some of the jokes might land a bit too broadly, others will likely hit harder for South Asian viewers who recognize them immediately. It’s that specificity that ends up being one of Bait’s real strengths.
Riz Ahmed and the Show’s Ensemble Cast Give ‘Bait’ Its Heart

So much of Bait works because Ahmed keeps Shah grounded even when his character spirals. It’s a portrayal that leans into an actor’s nervous energy without feeling like a punchline or a forced conversation about representation. The best, most resonating moments, however, are when Ahmed lives in the smaller beats like hesitating to speak, trying to smooth over awkward interactions, or even quiet flashes of panic that glaze his expression when the room turns against him. His sharp performance captures Shah’s exhaustion from trying to hold himself together while the world keeps pulling him apart. Meanwhile, Ahmed’s co-star Khan brings balance as Shah’s cousin Zulfi, a “Muba” driver (Muslim Uber). If Shah is tangled up in his anxieties, Zulfi plays things more directly, cutting the noise with blunt honesty and humor. It’s a joy to see the stand-up comedian play him with his usual ease and confidence, helping make their brotherly dynamic feel lived-in. The scenes the two share also reveal a deeper layer of Bait’s cultural context, where family ties, old grievances, and love co-exist.

The supporting cast is incredible and helps round out Shah’s very spiral-forward world. Aasiya Shah is lovely as his doting cousin Q, while Sheeba Chaddha and Sajid Hasan bring warmth and humor as his parents without ever turning that family portrait into caricature. Adding to the mix of affectionate chaos is Arya, who adds a bittersweet rhythm to the show as Yasmin, his ex, with whom he has some unresolved tension. But even smaller roles leave an impression, like Rafe Spall as Nigel, the well-meaning but slightly odd soldier-turned-security consultant whose presence adds yet another strange complication to Shah’s already fragile situation (at least, we are thought to believe, per Shah’s point of view). Meanwhile, Stewart’s contribution might be small, but it is sharply felt, giving Bait an eerie and memorable edge. As a show that is hard to look away from, Bait moves compellingly between waves of comedy, anxiety, and cultural observation for something darker and equally believable. While it would have been nice to see some more interactions with Shah’s family, aside from singular moments that define and contribute to his spiral, the ensemble’s chemistry and Ahmed’s deeply unsettled performance keep Bait emotionally grounded. Even when it gets messy, it still knows how to land the hook. Bait premieres March 25 on Prime Video.

Release Date

March 25, 2026

Network

Prime Video

Directors

Tom George, Bassam Tariq

Writers

Riz Ahmed, Azam Mahmood, Prashanth Venkataramanujam

Pros & Cons

Riz Ahmed delivers a sharp, uneasy performance that captures anxiety and identity struggles.
Cultural specificity shines through family scenes, giving the show warmth and authenticity.
Patrick Stewart’s uncanny presence gives the series an extra layer of menace, sharpening its stranger and more psychological turns.

Shah’s family is compelling but underused, appearing mostly in moments that serve the spiral rather than deeper character time.
The series is so locked into Shah’s unraveling that some supporting relationships never feel developed.