The Animals trailer has arrived, and Ben Affleck is having another extremely stressful day at the movies. Netflix’s new crime thriller casts him as Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose campaign takes a brutal turn when kidnappers seize his son and demand a ransom.
Mark and his wife have only hours to find the money. There is one rather expensive complication: much of their cash has already gone into his mayoral campaign. To save their child, the couple must expose secrets they have kept from each other, potentially wrecking both their marriage and Mark’s political future.
Affleck also directs the 106-minute film and co-wrote it with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray. Netflix will release Animals on October 9, 2026, both on the streaming service and in select theaters.
What does the Animals trailer reveal?
The footage opens with Mark making promises to Los Angeles voters, presenting himself as the man with a plan for the city. His platform quickly comes under scrutiny, with the trailer suggesting that some proposals may be unrealistic while others could prove deeply unpopular. Then the kidnapping removes any room for polished campaign language.
Gillian Anderson plays Mark’s campaign adviser, who lays out the couple’s grim path forward. Mark and his wife, played by Kerry Washington, need to uncover the darkest parts of their shared life if they hope to raise the ransom money and recover their son.
The trailer keeps the exact nature of those secrets under wraps, but the dialogue makes one thing clear: this is not going to be a calm exchange of account passwords. Resentment is already waiting close to the surface, and every confession threatens to cause lasting damage.
That gives the film two ticking clocks. Mark must beat the kidnappers’ deadline while trying to stop his family, marriage and political ambitions from collapsing at the same time. Running for mayor suddenly looks like the easier assignment.
Who joins Ben Affleck in the cast?
Washington and Anderson lead a substantial supporting cast that also includes Steven Yeun, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Adriana Paz, Ray Fisher, Matt Gerald and Mark Kassen. Newcomer Christopher Woodley plays Mark’s kidnapped son.
The trailer does not spell out how every character connects to the abduction. Their roles appear tied to the wider conspiracy surrounding the Kimball family, leaving plenty of suspects and potential pressure points hidden ahead of release.
Animals marks Washington’s first film role of 2026 and her second consecutive movie for Netflix. She previously appeared in the third Knives Out installment, Wake Up Dead Man. The new thriller also reunites Affleck with Yeun after both appeared in The Rip.
Behind the camera, Affleck and Matt Damon produce through Artists Equity. Makeready and Fifth Season are also production companies on the project, with Brad Weston, Dani Bernfeld and Collin Creighton serving as producers.
How does Animals continue Affleck’s Netflix run?
This is the second Netflix original film starring Affleck in 2026. His first, The Rip, arrived on the platform in January and received generally positive reviews from critics.
His latest project places him even more firmly at the center of the action. Along with starring, directing, writing and producing, Affleck has built the thriller around a public figure whose carefully managed image is about to meet some very private consequences.
The marriage between Mark and Washington’s character appears central to the plot rather than a side story. Their buried history may provide the money needed to rescue their son, but every revelation could permanently change how they see one another. Meanwhile, Mark’s campaign promises and public reputation create another layer of risk if those secrets escape the room.
With a kidnapping, a depleted bank balance and political ambitions all colliding, Animals is selling a compact race against time rather than a leisurely mystery. The remaining questions concern who engineered the crime, why the Kimballs were targeted and whether saving their son will cost them everything else.
