Nia DaCosta Takes the Wheel on Prime Video's Sex Criminals
TL;DR: Nia DaCosta — director of Candyman and The Marvels — has signed on to direct and executive produce the first two episodes of Prime Video's Sex Criminals adaptation, based on Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky's acclaimed Image Comics series. The show stars Imogen Poots and John Reynolds, with Kumail Nanjiani co-creating and appearing on screen. No release date has been confirmed yet.
Three Films In, DaCosta Is Now the Most Interesting Director Working in Genre Television
Three years after The Marvels became one of Marvel's most divisive theatrical releases — loved by a dedicated minority, misread by everyone else — Nia DaCosta has quietly pivoted toward a project that suits her sensibilities far better. According to The Hollywood Reporter, DaCosta is set to direct the first two episodes of Sex Criminals, Prime Video's long-gestating adaptation of the boundary-pushing Image Comics title. She'll also serve as executive producer on the series. The announcement came ahead of Amazon's upfront presentation on May 11, 2026, which is exactly the kind of moment you'd want to drop a title this provocative. Smart timing. Very intentional.
What We Actually Know About the Prime Video Series
Here's the setup, and it's genuinely weird in the best way. Suzie (played by Imogen Poots) discovers that when she has sex, time stops. Completely. One night she meets Jon (John Reynolds), and — improbably, wonderfully — he has the same ability. So they do what any rational time-stopping couple would do. They rob banks.
That's the premise of Sex Criminals, the Image Comics series by writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky, which ran from 2013 to 2019 and won the Eisner Award for Best New Series in its debut year. Comics Beat has a full breakdown of how the comic-to-screen journey developed, including the original series order that Prime Video greenlit back in January 2026.
A few confirmed facts worth bookmarking:
- Director: Nia DaCosta (episodes 1–2), also executive producer
- Stars: Imogen Poots as Suzie, John Reynolds as Jon, Kumail Nanjiani in an on-screen role
- Co-creators: Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, and Tze Chun
- Studio: Amazon MGM Studios
- Episode count: Eight episodes ordered
- Release date: Not yet announced
Production company LuckyChap Entertainment — yes, Margot Robbie's company — is also attached, with Dani Gorin producing on their behalf. Fraction and Zdarsky themselves are executive producers, which matters: when the original creators are in the room, adaptations tend to drift less.
Why This Adaptation Has Been Worth Waiting For
What's striking is how long this property sat in development hell before finding the right home. The comic was optioned years ago, circling various networks and streamers before Prime Video committed to a full series order. That patience paid off — because the version we're getting now has a creative team that actually makes sense for the material.
Nanjiani and Gordon are the couple behind The Big Sick (2017), a film that understood how to make emotionally raw, comedically precise stories about relationships in crisis. That's not accidental casting for this project. Sex Criminals the comic was never really about the bank robberies — those are just the plot engine. The actual subject is intimacy, shame, and the terrifying vulnerability of finding someone who sees you completely. Nanjiani and Gordon have done that before. On screen, in their own lives. That's a real credential.
Dark Horizons confirmed that Nanjiani will not only co-write and executive produce but will also appear in a lead role — which is an unusual level of investment from a showrunner. It suggests the show is being treated as something personal, not just a content play.
For comparison, think of Fleabag: a show with a transgressive, sexually frank premise that used comedy as camouflage for genuine devastation. Sex Criminals is aiming at something similar — using the absurdist time-stop mechanic to excavate real emotional territory. Whether it gets there depends heavily on execution, which is exactly why DaCosta's involvement matters.
What Nanjiani and the Creators Have Said
When Prime Video announced the series order in January 2026, Kumail Nanjiani spoke about the material's appeal in terms that went beyond the obvious hook. "This book is funny and sad and weird and deeply human," Nanjiani said, "and we're going to try to make a show that's all those things too." It's a statement that could read as boilerplate, but from Nanjiani — whose best work (The Big Sick, his stand-up) consistently earns that description — it lands with more weight than usual.
Matt Fraction, for his part, has been publicly enthusiastic about the adaptation process in a way that comic creators rarely are. He and Zdarsky's executive producer credits aren't ceremonial. That's worth noting, because it's genuinely unusual. (Most comic adaptations treat the source creators as consultants at best, liabilities at worst.)
Movie OTT will be tracking creator statements and any further casting announcements as they emerge ahead of production.
How This Lands for Indian Prime Video Subscribers
Prime Video India has been on a significant content push through 2025 and into 2026, and Sex Criminals — once it arrives — will sit comfortably alongside the platform's existing prestige acquisitions. Indian subscribers already have access to Prime Video's global library, which means the show will be available day-and-date on launch, no regional delay expected.
That said, a title this explicitly named and premised around sexuality will almost certainly face certification scrutiny under India's content guidelines. Prime Video India has navigated this before — Citadel and The Boys both landed without significant cuts — but Sex Criminals is more provocative in its framing. Hard to say if that creates delays or just requires a content advisory.
For Indian audiences, the Kumail Nanjiani connection is its own draw. He's been a recognizable face since Silicon Valley and carries genuine crossover appeal in the subcontinent's English-language streaming demographic.
Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker will have confirmed regional availability — including whether Hindi dubbing is planned — as soon as Prime Video India makes it official. For now, the working assumption is that this is a global simultaneous release, which has been Prime Video's standard approach for flagship originals.
Regional language dubbing hasn't been announced, but given the adult content, a dubbed version for broader regional distribution seems unlikely at launch.
DaCosta, Poots, Reynolds — and Why This Cast Is Better Than It Sounds
Nia DaCosta made her feature debut with Little Woods in 2018 — a lean, precise thriller about two sisters navigating desperation on the North Dakota border. Then came Candyman (2021), a socially conscious horror sequel that split critics but demonstrated real command of tone and visual language. The Marvels (2023) was a studio assignment at the largest possible scale, and whatever its commercial outcome, DaCosta brought a lightness to the MCU that the franchise badly needed.
Hedda — her most recent film, and the project that introduced her to Imogen Poots — is a contemporary reworking of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, set over a single charged night in which Hedda finds herself trapped between a past love she can't release and a present life that's slowly suffocating her. Poots is extraordinary in it. The film uses intimacy and psychological pressure in exactly the register that Sex Criminals will need.
John Reynolds brings his own credibility. Search Party ran for five seasons and gave Reynolds space to play comic obliviousness with real depth. Stranger Things introduced him to a much larger audience. He's underrated. Genuinely.
The supporting bench — Nanjiani, the LuckyChap infrastructure, Fraction and Zdarsky in the room — makes this one of the more carefully assembled genre projects of 2026. Movie OTT has full cast and crew details as they're confirmed.
Watch the official trailer:
What's Next for Sex Criminals on Prime Video
No production start date has been officially announced as of May 2026, and a release window remains unconfirmed. DaCosta is simultaneously attached to Hulu's Southern Bastards pilot — where she holds story credit alongside Ozark's Bill Dubuque — which suggests a packed slate. Whether the two projects run concurrently or sequentially will affect when Sex Criminals actually lands on Prime Video.
Watch for a trailer drop once principal photography wraps, and keep an eye on Amazon's awards-season positioning: if they're treating this as a prestige tentpole, an end-of-2026 or early-2027 slot makes strategic sense. For the most current streaming availability across all regions — including when Sex Criminals hits Prime Video India — Movie OTT has the live picture.
