‘By Any Means’ Release Date & Time, Trailer, Cast, Plot & Where to Watch Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg’s True Crime Thriller
There is something undeniably compelling about pairing a straight-laced FBI agent with a mafia hitman, especially when the case they are working together involves real civil rights history. That is exactly the pitch behind ‘By Any Means,’ the upcoming crime thriller from Paramount Pictures that has been generating steady buzz since its trailers dropped this summer.
‘By Any Means’ is set to hit US theaters on September 4, 2026, and stars Mark Wahlberg, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Beharie, and Josh Lucas. With a premise rooted in true events and a cast this stacked, the film is shaping up to be one of the more talked about releases of early fall.
‘By Any Means’ Release Date and Where to Watch
‘By Any Means’ is scheduled to be released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on September 4, 2026. That timing places it squarely in the Labor Day weekend window, a slot Paramount has clearly chosen with counterprogramming in mind. The film will open in theaters nationwide, sharing its release date with thirteen other films, including ‘Onslaught,’ ‘Cars: 20th Anniversary,’ and ‘Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass.’
For now, the film is a theatrical exclusive, meaning fans hoping to catch Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen II’s tense partnership will need to head to a cinema when it opens. There is no indication yet of a same day streaming option, which tracks with Paramount’s typical release pattern for mid budget theatrical crime dramas.
The road to the big screen was not exactly quick. Development on ‘By Any Means’ reportedly began in December 2024, with the project entering post production in April 2026 and wrapping in June before Paramount locked in the September date. It is the kind of steady, deliberate rollout that suggests a studio confident in what it has on its hands.
‘By Any Means’ Trailer Breakdown
Paramount Pictures has released the final trailer for ‘By Any Means,’ showcasing the tense partnership between FBI agent Wayne Strider and mafia hitman Gregory Scarpa as they work together to solve the case. The footage leans into the friction between the two men rather than smoothing it over, which is part of what makes the pairing so watchable.
Director Elegance Bratton has described the film as a story about unlikely alliances forged under impossible circumstances, one that explores the demands of confronting violence as a system and the cost of seeking truth in a world of chaos. That framing gives the trailer’s punchier moments some real weight rather than letting them feel like empty genre spectacle.
According to Movieweb, this latest trailer offers a more palatable, TV friendly look at what could be one of the more intriguing crime thrillers of the year, following earlier trailers that leaned harder into the extent of the violence on display. The footage also credits Basil Iwanyk, a producer known for ‘Sicario,’ ‘The Town,’ and ‘John Wick,’ as a strong signal of the tone audiences should expect walking in.
Visually, the transformation is a big part of the marketing hook. Wahlberg has reportedly disappeared into the role through hair, makeup, and styling to resemble the real life Gregory Scarpa, a detail that has already become a talking point among early viewers of the footage.
‘By Any Means’ Cast Details
The film is directed by Elegance Bratton and written by Sascha Penn, starring Mark Wahlberg, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Josh Lucas, Nicole Beharie, Ethan Embry, LisaGay Hamilton, LaChanze, Giancarlo Esposito, and David Strathairn. Bratton previously directed ‘Pier Kids,’ ‘Buck,’ and ‘The Inspection,’ along with the documentary ‘Move Ya Body: The Birth of House,’ while Penn’s writing credits include ‘Creed II’ and ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan.’
For Abdul-Mateen II, the film arrives at an interesting career moment, landing not long after his Marvel Television series was shockingly canceled following a Season 2 greenlight announcement. That makes ‘By Any Means’ feel like something of a pivot back to grounded, character driven material after his time in the superhero space.
On the producing side, the project brought together a mix of star power and genre credibility. Producers include Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Alex Lebovici, Chester Algernal Gordon, Basil Iwanyk, and Erica Lee, working through banners like Hammerstone Studios and Thunder Road.
‘By Any Means’ Plot Explained
Based on a true story, a young Black FBI agent played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. He is forced to team up with Greg Scarpa, a notorious mafia hitman turned FBI informant played by Mark Wahlberg, and together they get pulled into a deadly hunt where justice and vengeance begin to blur.
The official synopsis frames it plainly, when the system is broken, two men divided by everything agree on one thing, the law has limits. They clearly do not share that same restraint, and that is where the film seems to find its dramatic engine.
Strider is set up as the straight man of the pairing, while Scarpa is decidedly the more colorful and volatile presence, gunning down suspects and engaging in intimidation tactics that Strider’s badge would never allow. It is a classic odd couple structure, but grounding it in the real history of civil rights era violence in Mississippi gives it stakes that go well beyond typical buddy cop fare.
The film has already been rated R for violence, bloody images, and pervasive language, which tracks with everything the trailers have shown so far. Given the subject matter, that rating feels less like a marketing choice and more like an honest reflection of the story being told.
With its release date now just around the corner, ‘By Any Means’ is positioning itself as one of the more substantial crime dramas of the fall season, and given how much history and star power it is juggling, it is fair to wonder whether audiences will connect more with Strider’s pursuit of justice or Scarpa’s willingness to break every rule to get there.
