Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali & Co Seek Refuge at the End of the World in “Leave The World Behind” Trailer

The first trailer for Leave The World Behind is here, a perfect marriage of material and film talent. The movie is based on Rumaan Alam’s sizzling novel, one of 2020’s must-reads, a genuinely riveting story about two families facing the prospect of complete societal collapse while sequestered together in a house in the Hamptons. Alam’s novel dropped, of course, in the middle of the pandemic, and its story about a society falling apart just outside the front door felt all too resonant. Now, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail has adapted Alam’s novel for the screen, and he’s brought along a sensational cast and crew to help him deliver the thrills and chills that were so plentiful in the novel.

Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke are Amanda and Clay Standford, a husband and wife who rent a beautiful home in the Hamptons with their kids for a weekend of bougie relaxation. Their idyll is interrupted by two strangers—G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la)—and they come bearing bad news. There’s been a cyberattack, and they’ve arrived seeing refuge. And before the Standfords can balk at the likelihood of any of this being real, G.H. reveals that he actually owns the house, so yeah, they’re staying. The tension between these two families and the growing horror of what’s happening out in the world is what drives Leave The World Behind towards its climax.

You couldn’t ask for a better cast—not for nothing, Kevin Bacon has a small but important role—and Esmail has proven himself a master of the techno-thriller. While the world may have stabilized compared to how bleak and terrifying things were when the book first came out in October 2020, we still live in uncertain times. Leave The World Behind, at the very least, reminds us that things could always be worse.

Check out the trailer below. Leave The World Behind will play in select theaters in November and then will stream on Netflix on December 8:

Here’s the official synopsis:

n this apocalyptic thriller from award-winning writer and director Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot), Amanda (Academy Award winner Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke), rent a luxurious home for the weekend with their kids, Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie). Their vacation is soon upended when two strangers — G.H. (Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) — arrive in the night, bearing news of a mysterious cyberattack and seeking refuge in the house they claim is theirs. The two families reckon with a looming disaster that grows more terrifying by the minute, forcing everyone to come to terms with their places in a collapsing world. Based on the National Book Award-nominated novel by Rumaan Alam, LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND is produced by Esmail Corp, Red Om Films, and executive produced by Higher Ground Productions.

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Featured image: LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND (2023) Mahershela Ali as G.H., Myha’la Herrold as Ruth, Julia Roberts as Amanda and Ethan Hawke as Clay. CR: JoJo Whilden