I’m always a sucker for a crime action thriller. I can’t get enough of the heart-pounding tension, the sweaty-palmed anticipation, and the edge-of-your-seat fight scenes. It gets me every time, and thankfully Apple TV’s “Lucky” has scratched that itch perfectly. 

The miniseries, based on a novel of the same title, follows Lucky (Anya Taylor-Joy), a recovered criminal who is dealing with the aftermath of a multi-million-dollar heist gone awry. Now on the run, Lucky must fight for her survival while avoiding the FBI and a sinister crime lord who won’t stop following her. 

Packed with the blood-pumping action and authentic, yet detailed, performances, “Lucky” keeps the heart rate just high enough that you can’t help but eagerly await next week’s episode. With an ensemble cast featuring Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant, and Drew Starkey, led by the expert Anya Taylor-Joy in the titular role, the show is the perfect mix of tension and action, making it impossible to stop watching.

Part of what makes action thrillers what they are is the editing. The creation of suspense, jump scares, and smooth action sequences is all thanks to the editor. With an expert hand, a skilled editor can make a film or series unforgettable, which is exactly what Aika Miyake did for “Lucky”.

With 18 years of experience, Miyake has become an award winning editor, with work ranging over all sorts of genres and projects. She recently worked on FX’s award winning series “Shōgun”, where her work won her and Eddie Award and a Emmy Award.

Cinema Femme had the honor of sitting down with Miyake to discuss her work on “Lucky” Episode 2, “Make ’em Dance”.

Firstly I would love to talk about the incorporation of 35mm into this show. What does the process of editing physical film look like and how does it differ from your average workflow?

Well it takes a couple days more, because they have to develop and scan everything, so we have to patiently wait a little bit. I always get so excited when I get to cut film footage, it’s just special. There’s a love for it. As a hobby I shoot super 8, just to make films of my trips and things like that. It just gives you the feeling of nostalgia and memories. 

When I got this footage of “Lucky” it was so special because they shot on this camera called Arri 2C, and they hand crank it. The speed of the camera and the film is decided by the hand that’s rolling it. It’s kind of like old cinema, a Charlie Chaplin, where things are a little bit fast. You get a lot of film flares, and I get to use really cool flash in the first montage with Lucky and Carrie. 

I would love to learn a little bit more about what goes into editing these tense action sequences. How do you create a rhythm in these scenes? What does the process for this look like?

In Episode 2 in “Lucky”, we have this action scene where she is being hunted by Agent Rand in the house and then we have a jumpscare of Lucky turning the truck on. We originally had a scene of Lucky sneaking into the truck and putting the key in, but we realised it’s so much fun to jump start the action by the start of the engine. The showrunner said something about it, and I tried it and immediately liked it. 

It’s really the contrast of the speed. The chase is really long and intense, you’re watching Rand look for Lucky, and Lucky is trying to hide, you just have the groundwork of tension. And then you jumpstart it. It’s really important to drive up the energy and move the story forward. 

This show stars a complicated female lead. What was it like working on a female led project? Was this something that drew you to this show?

Of course. I love cutting female stories. I feel really right when I’m cutting a story that has layers. I really felt that in “Shōgun”. It feels very patriotic, but it’s really about Mariko’s story so it was really fun. 

This time we have three or four strong female characters, so that was an immediate pull for me. Even Agent Rand, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, her character is really layered. What I like about “Lucky” is they treat the female characters as “it is what it is”. They’re not being special, they’re just human and we get to tell the story about them. 

This is your first action thriller project. How does editing change from genre to genre, and style to style? How was this different from other projects you’ve worked on?

I cut short form for 17 or 18 years prior to this. When you’re cutting branding commercials, there is always a style or story, and different types of looks to it. I’m very used to trying out how I can tell different styles of stories in different ways. For me I’m very adaptable, I’m not really stuck in one genre. For example I used to cut a lot of car commercials because one of my mentors worked car commercials and I got a lot of offers, but once you’re doing the same thing over and over, you get bored, right? I try to branch out to different stuff, I’ve cut so many different types of stuff, so jumping on different genre just excites and it’s really fun to figure out what I can do to tell this story right. 

This show detailed, and so are the performances. How did you structure the edits to highlight these subtle acting moments in the show?

One thing I really think is important is to watch everything. It seems like such a normal thing, but watch everything. So Anya is an amazing actor, and she really does detailed and nuanced things. She’s always doing it. I was so scared of blinking when I was watching [the footage]. I watch everything once or twice over and mark everything. 

In episode two, Lucky shows sadness over seeing Syliva, the owner of the house in the desert. She has two granddaughters and really shows mother’s love to the granddaughters. You can see just a tiny shade of sadness on Anya’s face and I used it. I really feel like those are precious. When I see something small I really try to highlight it and work it into the story.

What were your favorite scenes to craft?

The first couple of scenes where we start with Lucky and Carrie in the car, singing “Modern Love” by David Bowie. That sequence was really really fun. It’s the hieght of the heist and they’re celebrating a win. You can see their connection when theyre stealing the money. It has three portions, the driving, steering and dancing in front of the car. I made so many different versions of the edit. This is a sequence where we have the digital and film footage too, ao it’s like how do I mix these and how do I showcase these connections that we couldn’t really get in episode one. 

Circling back to my publication’s focus on female and gender expansive creatives, can you share a bit about your journey as a female creative?

Oh, in just one paragraph? I come from Japan where women generally are submissive and are generally are told to not have opinions or say opinions. Editing is a job there, but it’s considered more of a modern pusher job, at least at the time I was doing it, I don’t know now. I have too many opinions. I couldn’t shut up about what I think about it. The love for the editing was too strong to just be submissive. 

So, throughout my career I really felt like people who have open minds about gender roles and such will sitck with me and will give me jobs. I’ll work for them and I’ll get a better place in my career. It’s the accumulation of it is how I’m here right now. I’m really proud of myself for not lying to myself and trying to conform into the society. There are so many hard moments when I say something and people just look at you like you’re silly and unwanted, but I’ve learned over the years that I’d rather embarrass myself then not say anything about it. I’ll at least state things one time, be respectful and be adult about it. But I’ve learned how to voice my opinion in the editing cutting room, and that’s been really helpful throught the years and I’m really proud of myself for doing that. 

What advice you would give to other women who want to pursue editing. 

Go for it. With editing, you have to have a specific personality for it. I think we’re the nicest people, I’m very biased. But also it’s very underappreciated at time. You really feel like you’re not credited enough or things like that, but it comes to the point where I do what I like to do and if you have that mindset and you really love the craft and want to contribute and have fun, you should just keep pursuing and editing and you’ll find your people.

Episodes 1- 5 are available for streaming right now on Apple TV. The miniseries will conclude on August 19th, 2026.