A new thriller, from the director of Taylor Sheridan‘s Western with a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, gets a gripping first trailer. Sheridan is best known as the co-creator behind the popular neo-Western series Yellowstone and its various prequels, including 1883 and 1923. He has since created several streaming series for Paramount+, including Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Lioness, and Landman.

In addition to these television series, Sheridan has also written several films, including the screenplay for Sicario, directed by Denis Villeneuve, and its sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado, directed by Stefano Sollima. Sheridan scored an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for writing the neo-Western Hell or High Water, directed by David Mackenzie.

He also wrote, in addition to directing, the neo-Western Wind River, the third and final installment in Sheridan’s spiritual trilogy exploring crime on the modern-day American frontier. More recently, Sheridan co-wrote the action thrillers Without Remorse (directed once again by Stefano Sollima) and directed Those Who Wish Me ᴅᴇᴀᴅ himself.

Relay Gets A Gripping First Trailer

It’s Directed By David Mackenzie

Relay gets a gripping first trailer. From David Mackenzie, the director of Hell or High Water, with a script written by Justin Piasecki, the upcoming thriller follows a secretive fixer who brokers payoffs on behalf of corrupt corporations but breaks his own rules when a potential client needs his protection.

The cast is led by Academy Award winner Riz Ahmed and Emmy nominee Lily James alongside Avatar‘s Sam Worthington, Reacher‘s Willa Fitzgerald, Matthew Maher, and six-time Emmy nominee Victor Garber.

Now, Bleecker Street has released the first official trailer for Relay. Riz Ahmed stars as a top-tier fixer who orchestrates high-stakes deals between shady corporations and the people who could expose them. He operates from the shadows, maintaining strict anonymity through careful planning and an unbreakable code of conduct.

However, everything changes when he receives a desperate plea for help from a new client (played by Lily James), whose survival depends on his protection, forcing him to break his own rules. Watch the trailer below:

What The Relay Trailer Means For the Movie

The Gripping Thriller Is Coming To Theaters

Relay premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, where it was praised by critics as a tense and stylish thriller anchored by Riz Ahmed’s performance and a clever premise, resulting in an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Bleecker Street acquired the distribution rights for the film, and will be releasing it in theaters this summer.

The Relay trailer highlights much of the acclaim for the film, with critics calling it “a twisty, confident homage to classic paranoid thrillers,” “a sleek, suspenseful watch,” and “a great ride, firing on all cylinders.”

Representing a different kind of film from David Mackenzie after his neo-Western, Relay may not achieve the critical acclaim of Hell or High Water, which earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, though it should still stand as a serviceable and entertaining thriller.

Source: Bleecker Street