Warner Bros. has released the first trailer (watch above) for “Judas and the Black Messiah.” The film is a biopic of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and his fateful betrayal by FBI informant William O'Neal. The film which was originally set for release on Aug. 21 has no released date given by WB yet, but as the trailer suggests it will hopefully come out in theaters.
Directed and produced by Shaka King, the film stars Oscar-nominated actor Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton, and Lakeith Stanfield as William O’Neal, an FBI informant whose betrayal leads to Hampton’s death. Other stars in the cast include Jesse Plemons, Dominque Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith, Lil Rel Howery, Jermaine Fowler, Martin Sheen, Robert Longstreet, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Dominique Thorne, Caleb Eberhardt, and Amari Cheatom.
Shaka King has penned the script along with Will Berson. Ryan Coogler and Charles D. King are also producers along with Shaka King.
The trailer emphasizes the juxtaposition between the two men by cutting between Hampton leading powerful chants at Black Panther meetings and O’Neal watching him nervously, painfully aware of what he must do. The preview also provides a bit of context to the betrayal, showing how O’Neal’s arrests for car theft and impersonating a federal officer leave him with the decision of going to prison or helping the FBI takedown Hampton by infiltrating the party.