Animals Trailer: Affleck and Washington Face a Kidnap Crisis Before Oct. 9 Netflix Drop

Netflix has released the full trailer for Animals, the political crime thriller directed by and starring Ben Affleck, with Kerry Washington as his on-screen wife, ahead of an October 9, 2026 debut in select theaters and on the streamer, according to Netflix Tudum. Affleck plays Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball; Washington portrays Abigail. Their son Denny, played by Christopher Woodley, is kidnapped, forcing the couple into a frantic ransom race that exposes buried secrets.

The trailer introduces Gillian Anderson as Dayle, a clinical fixer who warns that whatever secrets Mark and Abigail have kept from each other must surface now that their child’s life is at stake. Steven Yeun appears as Mark’s campaign manager, with Adriana Paz and Luis Gerardo Méndez also in the ensemble. Affleck co-wrote the screenplay with Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray, UPI reported.

“Who are we really? Who are we when our masks come off?” Affleck told Tudum, framing the film as a test of moral compass versus self-interest—and as a marriage story about the bargains couples strike. The cast rehearsed for weeks and shot on location at the Kimballs’ Los Angeles home, leaning into audience expectations of its stars before twisting them.

Artists Equity—the studio Affleck co-founded with Matt Damon and RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale—produces alongside Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Dani Bernfeld, and Luciana Damon. The October 9 day-and-date plan puts a star-driven political thriller into Netflix’s fall slate just as awards chatter begins to build around prestige streaming titles.

With the trailer now public, Animals locks in as one of early October’s highest-profile Hollywood drops—Affleck behind the camera again, Washington opposite him, and a kidnapping plot designed to strip a campaign-perfect family to the bone.