The biggest show on Netflix in July 2025 is the suspenseful mystery limited series Untamed, which stars Eric Bana as a special agent for the National Parks Service. As Kyle Turner, Bana dives into the confident and fearless agent, who knows the Yosemite National Park grounds like the back of his hand. That knowledge comes in handy when a mysterious death unravels long-held park secrets.
Even though the show takes place in Yosemite National Park in California, Untamed wasn't filmed there. Rather, the cast and crew brought the beautiful, lush green scenery to life in British Columbia. But while filming the Netflix original series, Bana admits that he was "bitterly disappointed" by one particular aspect about filming on location in the Canadian wilderness.
In the series, there's a scene that involves Turner and Naya (Lily Santiago) encountering a bear while investigating Jane Doe's murder. While in a hunting shack looking for clues, Naya opens the door and is met with a giant, menacing bear. Obviously, that wasn't a real bear, and Bana further confirmed that he actually didn't see any bears while filming Untamed, which left him "disappointed."
"We were mostly pretty remote up in the mountains during the day, so I was always trying to spot a bear, and I was bitterly disappointed that I didn't see one," the actor told People. Bana explained that before the cast and crew started filming, a "bear man" came to set to make sure there were no black bears or grizzlies in the area to keep the cast and crew safe. Who knew Bana would have wanted to really see one of the dangerous animals up close!
Although he joked that it was disappointing not see a real bear in the wild, Bana couldn't help but enjoy every second of filming in the wilderness. "It was pretty awesome up there," he told People. Bana also told the magazine that being able to film the series outside instead of making a soundstage look like the wilderness helped himself and the actors fully immerse themselves in their characters and the world they were building together.
The realism of its setting has surely helped the series skyrocket right to overnight success. After the show's premiere on Netflix on July 17, Untamed shot straight to the peak of the daily top 10 most popular shows ranking, where it has stayed put for nearly one week and counting. The six-episode series quickly earned the praise and voracious binge-watching time from viewers who were hungry for the next great murder mystery miniseries from Netflix.
While Netflix has currently designated Untamed as a limited series, its viewership success begets the desire for a second season from fans, and the ending definitely leaves the door open for another season. We'll have to wait and see whether Netflix opts to renew Untamed season 2 or if the series will remain limited. If season 2 were to happen, maybe Bana could finally see that bear.
Read Untamed recaps from Show Snob: