Ben Affleck’s new Netflix thriller Animals could be the perfect October watch

Ben Affleck is heading back to Netflix with a thriller that looks increasingly tense, secretive, and unsettling. Animals puts Affleck at the center of the story both in front of and behind the camera, with Kerry Washington and Gillian Anderson joining him in a kidnapping drama built around a family whose carefully maintained image begins to collapse.

The film arrives on October 9, 2026, both on Netflix and in select theaters. Netflix describes it as a dark, suspenseful thriller in which an Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife are forced to confront difficult choices after their son is kidnapped.

Ben Affleck takes the lead, and the director’s chair

Affleck has already appeared in one major Netflix release this year, The Rip, alongside longtime friend and collaborator Matt Damon. With Animals, however, his involvement goes considerably further.

He stars as Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose public life appears carefully controlled. Affleck also directed the film and co-wrote it, working from a script by Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray. The movie is produced in partnership with Artists Equity, the studio founded by Affleck, Damon, and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital.

The new trailer gives us a closer look at the world Mark has built. On the surface, he appears to have the ingredients of a successful political campaign: a prominent public profile, a comfortable home, and a seemingly happy marriage to Abigail, played by Kerry Washington.

That picture changes dramatically when the couple’s son, Denny, is kidnapped.

A kidnapping that exposes the cracks in the marriage

The central mystery is not simply how Mark and Abigail will raise the ransom. The bigger question is why their son was targeted in the first place.

The trailer strongly suggests that both parents are keeping things from each other. Their relationship is already under strain, and the kidnapping forces those private tensions into the open at exactly the worst possible moment.

Netflix’s description says the couple becomes caught in a web of deception as they scramble to secure the ransom. The decisions they make could ultimately threaten the life they have built together.

That gives Animals a more complicated setup than a straightforward kidnapping thriller. The immediate danger is obvious, but the secrets within the Kimball household may prove just as important.

Affleck has also described the film as being concerned with marriage and the compromises involved in building a life with another person. The kidnapping simply puts those questions under extreme pressure.

Gillian Anderson plays a mysterious fixer

One of the most intriguing figures in the trailer is Dayle, played by Gillian Anderson.

Dayle appears to be a fixer brought into the increasingly desperate situation, but she does not come across as someone the couple can easily trust. Her presence adds another layer of uncertainty as Mark and Abigail try to figure out who is on their side and what they may have to sacrifice to get their son back.

The trailer uses Anderson’s character to establish much of its ominous atmosphere without revealing too much about where the story is heading. That restraint works in the movie’s favor. Rather than laying out every major twist, the footage leaves plenty of questions unanswered.

That is particularly useful for a thriller like this. Going into Animals without knowing exactly where the kidnapping leads could make the eventual revelations considerably more effective.

A strong supporting cast

Affleck and Washington are joined by a substantial ensemble that includes Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Ray Fisher, Matt Gerald, Christopher Woodley and others.

Woodley plays Denny, whose kidnapping sets the entire story in motion.

The film was shot in and around Los Angeles, with the city playing an important role in the setting. Netflix says production was deliberately based around the local film industry, with the Kimballs’ Los Angeles home serving as a key location for the story.

Affleck reportedly rehearsed with the ensemble for several weeks before filming, with the cast working together on location. He has said he wanted actors who could collaborate closely while also using the audience’s expectations of familiar performers before taking the story in less predictable directions.

Watch the official trailer

The latest trailer gives a much fuller sense of the film’s tone while keeping the major story developments under wraps.

The movie looks built around escalating pressure rather than constant spectacle. Mark and Abigail have to find the ransom, deal with their son’s disappearance, and confront secrets that could permanently change their relationship.

That combination makes Animals a particularly fitting thriller for October. It has the dark atmosphere and moral uncertainty you’d expect from a tense fall release, but the story appears to rely as much on character secrets and psychological pressure as it does on the kidnapping itself.

When does Animals arrive on Netflix?

Animals premieres on Netflix on October 9, 2026, with a release in select theaters on the same date.

The film runs 1 hour and 48 minutes and is rated R. Netflix categorizes it as a thriller and describes it as dark, suspenseful, slow-burning, and centered on keeping secrets.

With Affleck starring and directing, Kerry Washington playing his wife, and Gillian Anderson adding another mysterious presence to an already unstable situation, Animals has plenty of ingredients for a tightly wound October thriller.

The most interesting part may be what the trailers are still refusing to show. We know the kidnapping will force Mark and Abigail to expose secrets, but exactly what those secrets are, and how far they will go to protect their family, remains largely unanswered.

That mystery is probably best left intact until October 9.