It’s just one month until Apple TV’s adaptation of Cape Fear lands on our screens and now we finally have an official trailer for the 10-part series.
While a teaser was unveiled back in March, this is our first proper look at the new iteration of the psychological thriller – and it promises to be just as twisted as expected.
The trailer starts with Anna (Amy Adams) and husband Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson) informing their children that convicted killer Max Cady (Javier Bardem) is being released from prison.
Freed by new evidence in the violent murder that put him behind bars, Anna – who served as Max’s lawyer – is visibly shaken when she looks up from the stage at an event she’s presenting only to find Max in the crowd, slowly clapping her.
It’s clear that Max is on a revenge mission but for what? Well, as Anna questions Tom about whether Max “could know about what we did”, it seems as though he’s found out something about his case that Anna wanted to be kept a secret.
“We did what we thought was right,” Tom says. If the series follows the 1991 Martin Scorsese film, it could be that Anna and Tom hid some reports or evidence, which may have got him released earlier.
As the trailer continues, we get a real sense of some of the stylistic choices that we’ll be seeing in the Apple TV remake with angled shots and lighting playing a major part in driving up the tension between Max and Anna.
We get flashbacks to Max’s time in prison where it looks as though his fellow inmates are clapping and hyping him up for something too. Could it be his release and his plan for afterwards?
Soon, it’s clear that Max is playing a vicious game with Anna and as she becomes frightened for her welfare, those around her don’t seem to be fearing Max in the same way. Ultimately, if the final montage of shots is anything to go by, things are set to get action-packed and brutal.
Watch the trailer for yourself below.
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The new series is being executive produced by Steven Spielberg, who produced the 1991 film, alongside Scorsese. It’s also being showrun and executive produced by Nick Antosca, who is known for his work on The Act, A Friend of the Family and Brand New Cherry Flavor – so he definitely knows a thing or two about driving a complex thriller.
While Cape Fear was originally made into a film in 1962 starring Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, which was based on the 1957 John D MacDonald novel The Executioners, Apple has noted that this version will be inspired by the Scorsese movie.
The synopsis for Apple TV’s Cape Fear reads: “A storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Adams) and Tom Bowden (Wilson) when Max Cady (Bardem), the notorious killer they are responsible for putting behind bars, is let out of prison — and he wants vengeance.”
Joining the cast alongside Bardem, Adams and Wilson are Joe Anders (1917), Lily Collias (Roofman), Malia Pyles (Pretty Little Liars) and CCH Pounder (Avatar: Fire and Ash).
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Cape Fear will debut on Friday 5 June 2026 on Apple TV. Start your seven-day free Apple TV trial here.
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