Alethea Jones is an actor-friendly director with a taste for the fanciful. Her television work gives us good reasons to keep watching, chiefly its leading performances, but we have reservations about the stories surrounding them.
Fi1m perspective
Tatiana Maslany's warmth in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (2026) gives its brisk succession of crises a person worth following. We enjoyed her company because she makes the woman more interesting than the mystery. Jones is among the directors of this comic thriller, which offers good entertainment while making its plot needlessly complicated. The performance is the strongest reason to stay. It is a useful place to start with Jones, provided we do not mistake an episodic directing credit for sole responsibility.
Her move from Australian shorts, including Lemonade Stand (2012), to the feature debut Fun Mom Dinner (2017) was followed by a sustained turn towards US television. She directed all ten episodes of Queen America (2018), and three of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (2023), also serving as executive producer on the latter. She favours imaginative, whimsical material and has a reputation for helping actors and steadying productions. Her detailed preparation leaves room for other people's suggestions. Those are useful skills in a shared production, even if they do not announce themselves in a shot.
Spider-Noir (2026) is the caution. Nicolas Cage's down-at-heel 1930s private eye is the main reason to watch a handsome, faithful noir pastiche that feels slightly hollow. Jones directed two of its eight episodes, so we would not lay the whole series' shortcomings at her door. But eight episodes are too many for the material, and the care taken over the noir conventions cannot make up for the slackness.
We would welcome more room for the actor-led comedy that makes Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed enjoyable. Neither series persuades us to treat her directing credit as a recommendation in itself, though her way of working gives us reason to remain interested. Start with Maslany, and allow for a mystery that sometimes gets in her way. — Fi1m
Biography
Alethea Jones is an Australian film and television director. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2007. Her early short films include When the Wind Changes (2010) and Lemonade Stand (2012), the latter of which won first prize at the Tropfest Film Festival.
Her feature directorial debut was Fun Mom Dinner (2017). She has directed episodes of television series including Queen America (2018–2019), Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (2023), Mrs. Davis (2023), Peacemaker (2025), Spider-Noir (2026) and Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (2026), and has served as executive producer on several projects.
