Hanging from the ominously named Troll Wall rockface in Norway, Sasha (Charlize Theron) struggles to hold up the weight of her unconscious husband (Eric Bana), dodging chunks of ice as they hurtle down from the precipice above. “Tommy, wake up!” she yells. “You’re dragging us off the mountain!” Right off the bat, this prologue sets the tone for a thriller where the action is convincingly perilous, but the dialogue leaves much to be desired.

Director Baltasar Kormákur is a seasoned expert in the realm of survival thrillers, having previously made The Deep (about a guy whose boat capsizes off the coast of Iceland), Adrift (where a couple get lost at sea during a hurricane), and Everest (which dramatizes a 1996 climbing catastrophe) — not to mention the less plausible Beast, where Idris Elba battles a homicidal lion in a South African game reserve. None of these films bill themselves as high art, but Kormákur knows his way around an outdoor action setpiece, grounding his new Netflix film Apex in the gritty technicalities of extreme rock climbing and kayaking.

Ever since Game of Thrones took television by storm, every TV network and streaming service has been trying to find their next big fantasy hit. But few have been able to replicate the cultural success of HBO’s — and indeed all of TV’s — last great watercooler show.

But five years ago, Netflix launched a show that seemed like it could come close: a historically-inspired fantasy series that incorporated vast mythical worldbuilding with a strong, incredibly likable cast of characters. So why isn’t this Netflix’s newest big thing now? Unfortunately, it all came down to timing.