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Paul Souter is an important character in the new murder-mystery drama miniseries, Untamed. Created by Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith, the suspenseful show features Eric Bana, Lily Santiago, Sam Neill, and others. The show is set around the Yosemite National Park and premiered on July 17, 2025, on Netflix.
Focusing on a National Park Service agent, the series follows how a body turns up in the park and the subsequent investigation that follows.
Untamed has received rave reviews and is one of the must-watch series to binge-watch. The show’s protagonist is Kyle Turner, played by Eric Bana, solving the case of a Jane Doe.
However, Paul Souter, played by Sam Neill, is the Chief Park Ranger at Yosemite. The character is integral to the plot of Untamed, and here is an exploration of his character in depth.
Disclaimer: The article contains spoilers about the show.
Who was Paul Souter from Untamed?
Untamed is a murder mystery drama that focuses on a National Park Service Investigative Services Branch special agent, Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), who must solve the mystery of an attack that happens on a young woman in the Yosemite National Park.
Amidst all this, Kyle also deals with the traumatic loss of his young son and the grief that he carries within. The show is gritty and grim and is elevated by Bana’s performance, along with the stellar performances by the rest of the cast.
Paul Souter is an important character in Untamed and is played by the veteran actor Sam Neill. Paul Souter is the Chief Park Ranger of the national park, Yosemite. And Neill embodies the character with a lot of layers and complexity.
Souter is important as he not only helps and guides Kyle, as he knows Kyle’s past grief, but he also becomes an important mentor for Turner. However, Souter turns out to be one of the main characters who turns out to be an antagonist in the series finale.
It turns out that the young woman who dies in the series is a girl called Lucy Cook, and her biological father is none other than Souter. The ranger had an affair with Lucy’s mother years ago and did not want the child. Therefore, the ranger tries to kill his own daughter in fear that she would reveal her parentage and the affair of Souter with her mother.
The character’s final reveal as the killer is horrifying, as throughout the show, the ranger acted as a positive influence upon the various characters in Untamed.
Initially, Kyle and his partner, the rookie Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago), find out that the unknown girl is Lucy Cook, who was assumed to be killed by her father, Rory, after her mother Maggie’s death.
However, Lucy has not just died by falling as she has bullets in her body, which reveals murder and not suicide. Turner initially thinks that Lucy is involved with an underground drug operation, but it’s a dead end. Turner also suspects other people, like the park’s wildlife management officer, Shane, who interacts with Lucy and has an army background.
However, it turns out that Lucy’s DNA matches with Souter and not Rory. Actor Sam Neill gives a nuanced performance as he confesses that he had an affair with Lucy’s mother, and he placed Lucy in a foster home, but she came back to live at the park and began blackmailing him for money.
Paul Souter confesses that he tried to scare her but ended up shooting Lucy, which resulted in her death. Kyle is taken aback as Paul Souter was his mentor, and as he tries to turn the ranger in, Souter shoots himself instead.
Why Paul Souter’s character was important in Untamed
The revelation that the ranger is the murderer is shocking, as he was a guide to Kyle and often tried to guide him and be there for him when Kyle used to turn to his past grief. On the other hand, Paul Souter also checks up on Naya, who is a rookie.
However, Souter also tried to ingratiate himself in the case of Lucy as he tried to throw Naya off the wrong path and even persuaded Kyle to give up on the case and shift to a new place, as he was dealing with past grief.
Ultimately, various small moments in the show reflect upon the ranger’s character as he tries to help everyone around him, while also keeping a note of how the case of Lucy is progressing.
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Untamed is available on Netflix.
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