‘Echo 3’: Where Sicario Meets Narcos on Apple TV+

If you’ve been craving a high-stakes action thriller that feels like Sicario collided with Narcos, Apple TV+ already has it in its library — and it’s built to be binged.

Echo 3, the 2022 10-episode series from Academy Award-winning writer Mark Boal, delivers a taut, boots-on-the-ground story that trades easy heroics for moral complexity and relentless suspense.

A Rescue Mission With No Clear Enemies

Echo 3 follows Amber Chesborough (Jessica Ann Collins), a brilliant American scientist conducting research on psychedelics as a potential treatment for addiction in Colombia. When she’s kidnapped near the Colombia-Venezuela border, her husband Eric “Prince” Haas (Michiel Huisman) and her brother Alex “Bambi” Chesborough (Luke Evans) — both elite Delta Force operators — launch their own off-the-books mission to bring her home.

What starts as a personal rescue quickly spirals into something far bigger. Prince and Bambi have a complicated history, strained further by the recent death of their team leader.

As they navigate the volatile world of cartels, guerrilla fighters, and shifting political agendas, the line between saving Amber and getting pulled into a secret war begins to blur.

Why It’s Being Called ‘Sicario Meets Narcos’

Like Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario, Echo 3 drags its characters into the unknowable, dangerous machinery of the drug trade and U.S. interventionism. The tension is quiet, tactical, and suffocating — every decision carries weight, and no one is truly safe.

Like Netflix’s Narcos, it’s a long-form, South America-set thriller that doesn’t flinch from the region’s political strata or the ripple effects of American involvement. But Boal, who won Oscars for The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, is less interested in glorifying special ops than in interrogating them.

“This isn’t Jason Bourne,” one character notes early on, and he’s right. This is a grounded, journalistic take on modern conflict, where heroism is messy and collateral damage is real.

A Subversive Action Standout

While Prince and Bambi dominate the rescue plot, critics agree the series’ emotional anchor is Amber. Held captive and in constant danger, she’s far from a damsel. Jessica Ann Collins’ performance reveals a woman of “intelligence, determination and hardened resolve,” whose own secrets — including possible CIA ties — complicate the mission to save her.

Apple only gave press the first five episodes, but reviewers praised the show for building “tension through desperation” and refusing to offer easy answers. Rotten Tomatoes’ consensus: “If Echo 3 doesn’t meet creator Mark Boal’s evident ambitions for multilayered drama, it succeeds as a lean, mean action adventure”.

Built For a Weekend Binge

At just 10 episodes, Echo 3 is a tight, propulsive watch — perfect if you want the adrenaline of a feature film stretched into a bingeable arc. It’s one of Apple TV+’s rare modern action thrillers without a sci-fi or fantasy twist, joining titles like Hijack and Criminal Record in the streamer’s growing action slate.

The series is based on the Israeli drama When Heroes Fly, itself inspired by Amir Gutfreund’s novel.

Boal’s adaptation relocates the story to South America, using the shift to examine “the deep-seated effects of US imperialism” with a cynical, complex lens.

Bottom line: If you miss the boots-on-the-ground dread of Sicario and the geopolitical chess of Narcos, Echo 3 delivers both — plus Luke Evans and Michiel Huisman in full tactical mode. All 10 episodes are streaming now on Apple TV+.