Ben Affleck’s New Netflix Thriller ‘Animals’ Turns a Political Campaign Into a Nightmare, Check out the New Trailer

Kidnapping thrillers thrive on putting ordinary families in impossible situations, but the genre gets an extra layer of tension when the family in question has spent months building a public image they can’t afford to lose. Mixing personal desperation with political stakes tends to produce exactly the kind of pressure-cooker premise studios love handing to filmmakers with a taste for morally messy storytelling.

Ben Affleck has built a reputation for exactly that kind of tightly wound tension behind the camera, and his latest project leans directly into it. Coming off his Netflix directorial debut earlier this year, Affleck is returning to the streamer with a new thriller that trades a heist for a far more personal crisis.

‘Animals‘ follows Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, played by Affleck, whose family life collapses overnight when his son is kidnapped in the middle of his political campaign. With most of the family’s money already tied up funding the race, Kimball and his wife Abigail, played by Kerry Washington, have only a few hours to raise the ransom, a situation that forces them to expose parts of their lives they’d rather have kept hidden.

Gillian Anderson joins the cast as a fixer who steps in to help the Kimballs navigate the crisis, while Steven Yeun plays Kimball’s campaign manager, hovering at the edges of the unfolding chaos as the family’s public and private lives start colliding. Rounding out the cast are Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Ray Fisher, Matt Gerald, and Mark Kassen.

When their son is kidnapped, an LA mayoral candidate and his wife scramble to raise the ransom while making choices that could tear their world apart.

Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, with Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz and Luis Gerardo Méndez… pic.twitter.com/P2PGtOq4Kk

— Netflix (@netflix) September 15, 2026

‘Animals’ marks the second project Affleck and Yeun have worked on together in fairly short order, following their earlier collaboration on Netflix’s ‘The Rip’ alongside Matt Damon, which has become one of the platform’s most popular films of the year. Yeun has continued building a strong relationship with Netflix in recent years, having previously won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for his performance in ‘Beef.’

Affleck directs ‘Animals’ from a screenplay he co-wrote with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray, marking his first time back in the director’s chair for a Netflix project since stepping behind the camera on ‘The Rip.’ The film is produced through Artists Equity, the studio Affleck co-founded with Damon and RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale, alongside Makeready and Fifth Season.

Behind the camera, Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit, known for his work on ‘There Will Be Blood,’ shot the film, with a score composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. Production took place in and around Los Angeles, with Affleck and his producing team framing the shoot as part of a broader effort to keep filmmaking jobs local and reinforce the city’s standing as a working production hub.

‘Animals’ is set to arrive in select theaters and begin streaming globally on Netflix on October 9, running 106 minutes. Given Affleck’s track record with tense, character-driven thrillers and the strength of the ensemble surrounding him, the film looks positioned to become one of the platform’s bigger releases heading into the fall.

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