# Ballard (2025)

> Detective Renée Ballard hunts a ruthless serial killer while uncovering a police conspiracy that threatens her own sense of justice.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/156423

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 47 min
- Status: Returning Series
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Kendall Sherwood
- Network: Prime Video
- Cast: Maggie Q, Courtney Taylor, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles, Amy Hill, Noah Bean
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26676904/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: gritty, tense, brooding

## What critics say

Audience reception is positive but modest, with viewers finding it a competent, familiar LA police procedural rather than a standout adaptation.

## Synopsis

Ballard (2025) is an American crime drama series created by Kendall Sherwood for Prime Video, adapted from the novel world of Michael Connelly and set in present-day Los Angeles. Maggie Q plays Detective Renée Ballard, a determined investigator who pursues a ruthless serial killer while uncovering a sinister conspiracy inside the police department itself. Courtney Taylor, John Carroll Lynch, and Michael Mosley appear among the principal cast, with colleagues and rivals forming a web of loyalties that Ballard must navigate as carefully as the criminals she tracks. The engine of the show is simple and urgent: Ballard wants long-overdue justice for victims and their families, but the colleagues she should trust may be standing in her way, and her own personal demons press on every decision. The first season of ten episodes, each running about forty-seven minutes, plays as a continuing investigation rather than a case-of-the-week format, so the threads build across the run. Its tone is gritty and tense, with a noir sensibility grounded in the texture of LAPD work. Fans of Bosch and Dept. Q, who enjoy misfit detectives chasing cold cases through a corrupt city, will find a familiar and rewarding crime story here.

## Shows like Ballard

- [Women's Murder Club (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/3208)
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- [The Killing (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/31678)
- [Death and Other Details (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/110483)
- [The Closer (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/1366)
- [Above Suspicion (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/15192)
- [Cold Case (2003)](https://ember.film/tv/2059)
- [Countdown (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/171011)
- [Shades of Blue (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/57012)
- [Bosch (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/54086)

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