Prime Video is kicking off 2026 with a tense financial thriller built for binge-watching. Steal, a six-episode limited series led by Sophie Turner, lands on the platform on January 21, 2026. Instead of focusing on a classic bank robbery, the show targets something far more unsettling for modern viewers: the retirement savings of ordinary citizens.
Blending hostage drama, white-collar crime and police procedural, Steal digs into how vulnerable pension systems can be when criminals learn how to exploit them — and how unprepared regular office workers are when they’re forced into the middle of a sophisticated cyber-financial attack.
What Is Steal About? A Pension Fund Turned War Zone
The series centers on Lochmill Capital, a pension fund that looks like any other corporate office — until it becomes ground zero for a meticulously planned heist. Sophie Turner plays Zara, a seemingly ordinary employee whose routine workday implodes when heavily armed men storm the building, lock down the premises, and turn the staff into bargaining chips.
Rather than simply grabbing cash and running, the assailants force Zara and her colleague Luke to execute a series of highly technical tasks designed to bypass Lochmill’s digital and procedural safeguards. Every action they take inside the system nudges the attackers closer to their true prize: access to the retirement money of thousands of people who don’t even know Lochmill exists.
That’s where Steal separates itself from more conventional heist shows. The robbery isn’t just about bleeding one company dry; it potentially destabilizes the future of retirees across the country. The crimes carried out in Lochmill’s offices ripple outward into the wider economy, raising questions about who really controls retirement funds — and how easily those systems can be compromised.
Sophie Turner as Zara: An Everyday Worker Thrown Into an Unthinkable Situation
For Sophie Turner, Steal is a sharp pivot from fantasy epics and period pieces to a wholly contemporary nightmare. Zara isn’t a trained operative or a secret genius hacker. She’s a regular office worker, someone who knows company protocols and systems but has zero preparation for life-or-death decisions under the barrel of a gun.
That lack of specialized training is central to the show’s tension. Zara is forced to decide, in real time, whether to obey the gunmen, stall them, or try to subvert their plans — all while knowing every keystroke might either save lives or doom thousands of pensioners. The series leans into her psychological stress: how far will she go to protect her colleagues, and what does it mean to be complicit when every choice is made under threat?
Luke, played by Archie Madekwe, becomes Zara’s reluctant partner in survival. Their dynamic is less about romance and more about crisis bonding: they must coordinate, argue, adapt, and negotiate their own moral lines as the situation escalates.
Outside the Building: A Detective on the Edge
While Zara and Luke navigate the terror inside Lochmill, the outside response is led by DCI Rhys, portrayed by Jacob Fortune-Lloyd. He’s the point man for containing the siege, decoding the attackers’ strategy, and preventing national-scale economic fallout.
But Rhys is far from a model, unshakable cop. He’s secretly battling a gambling addiction that has resurfaced at the worst possible time. The case that should restore his reputation instead becomes a mirror for his own financial self-destruction: he’s investigating a criminal network that weaponizes money while privately struggling with the consequences of his own risky bets.
The investigation pits Rhys against multiple layers of resistance:
- a shadowy criminal operation that seems to know exactly how pension systems work;
- limited intel from inside the building due to the hostage situation;
- a political and financial backdrop in which any wrong move could spark a national scandal; and
- his own mounting debts and personal secrets that threaten to cloud his judgment.
As the hours pass, the case becomes less about simply ending a standoff and more about whether Rhys can keep his professional integrity intact while his private life threatens to implode.
Why the Focus on Pensions Makes Steal Feel So Timely
In a media landscape full of bank robberies and crypto scams, Steal takes a more grounded approach: what happens when criminals figure out how to raid the very funds people rely on for retirement? For American viewers who watch their 401(k) balances and pension statements fluctuate, the idea of a coordinated attack on retirement systems hits especially close to home.
The show uses Lochmill Capital as a microcosm of a much larger ecosystem. By following the money beyond a single institution, Steal highlights the invisible infrastructure that underpins everyday financial security — and shows how a handful of people with the right access can flip it into a weapon.
A Six-Episode Limited Series Built for a One-Weekend Binge
Steal is structured as a compact, six-part story rather than an open-ended drama. That format gives the narrative a tight, escalating pace: each episode peels back another layer of the conspiracy behind the heist while raising the stakes for both the hostages and the authorities massed outside.
Because all six episodes drop at once on January 21, 2026, Prime Video subscribers can experience the entire siege as one seamless arc — from the first breach of Lochmill’s doors to the final revelations about who’s really pulling the strings. It’s designed for the kind of weekend-long, high-adrenaline viewing session that streaming audiences increasingly crave.
Cast and Character Dynamics
The core tension of the series comes from three central points of view, each with a different relationship to power and risk:
- Zara (Sophie Turner) – A regular employee thrust into the role of unwilling accomplice, trying to protect colleagues while being forced to dismantle her own company’s defenses.
- Luke (Archie Madekwe) – Zara’s coworker and fellow hostage, whose decisions and loyalties are constantly tested as the heist evolves.
- DCI Rhys (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) – The lead investigator whose personal gambling issues mirror the series’ broader themes of risk, loss, and financial vulnerability.
This triangle — Zara and Luke trapped inside, Rhys fighting to control the situation from outside — frames the entire season. The show cross-cuts between the cramped, volatile environment within Lochmill’s offices and the pressure cooker of the police command post, where every tactical choice has consequences for the hostages and for the country’s retirement system.
Trailer and First Look
Prime Video has released an early look at Steal, hinting at its mix of tense negotiation scenes, frantic system overrides, and quiet character beats where fear and fatigue start to crack the façade of control.
Watch the trailer here:
When and Where to Watch Steal
All six episodes of Steal arrive on Prime Video on January 21, 2026. The series is part of the platform’s lineup of original programming and is available exclusively to Prime members in supported regions.
For viewers interested in grounded, financially driven thrillers — especially those that tap into real-world anxieties about savings, debt and institutional trust — Steal is positioned as one of early 2026’s standout streaming bets.
FAQ
When does season 1 of Steal premiere on Prime Video?
Season 1 of Steal premieres on Prime Video on January 21, 2026, with all six episodes available to stream the same day.
What is the main plot of Steal?
The series follows a high-stakes heist inside the offices of Lochmill Capital, a pension fund. Armed intruders take employees hostage and force Zara and her colleague Luke to help bypass security systems so the criminals can target the retirement savings of thousands of citizens. At the same time, DCI Rhys leads the investigation from outside while fighting his own personal demons.
Who stars in Steal?
Steal features Sophie Turner as Zara, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as DCI Rhys, and Archie Madekwe as Luke. Together, their characters form the emotional and narrative core of the series, balancing the hostage crisis inside the building with the investigative efforts outside.
Is Steal available anywhere other than Prime Video?
No. Steal is an exclusive Prime Video original and can only be watched by subscribers to Amazon’s streaming service in regions where the platform operates.
