‘By Any Means’ Release Date, Trailer, Cast and Plot Details for the Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen II Crime Thriller

Paramount Pictures is preparing to release ‘By Any Means,’ a crime thriller pairing Mark Wahlberg with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in a story drawn from real events in civil rights era Mississippi. The project was first reported by Deadline Hollywood in October 2024, when Wahlberg and Sterling K. Brown were initially attached to star in director Elegance Bratton’s crime thriller. The film has since evolved considerably, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, ahead of its theatrical debut.

Anticipation has built steadily through a string of trailers, a featurette, and a strong test screening reaction, positioning ‘By Any Means’ as one of the more notable adult dramas hitting theaters this fall. Below is a full breakdown of the release date, trailer rollout, cast, plot, and where audiences will be able to watch it.

‘By Any Means’ Release Date and Time

‘By Any Means’ is only in theatres on September 4, 2026, marking a Labor Day weekend release for Paramount. The official release plan places ‘By Any Means’ in theaters nationwide, with 13 other films opening on the same date, including ‘Onslaught,’ ‘Cars: 20th Anniversary,’ and ‘Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass.’

Internationally, the film is scheduled for a September 3, 2026 theatrical release in Australia, a September 17, 2026 release in Brazil and Mexico, and a November 26, 2026 release in Germany. No exact showtime has been published, since individual theater chains typically set their own scheduling once a film opens wide, but the nationwide September 4 date has been consistent across every source tracking the release.

Paramount formally acquired the film and set the Labor Day release date in April 2026, according to reporting from Deadline. That timing followed a lengthy path through development and production, with the film entering development in December 2024 and moving into post production by April 2026 before landing its distributor.

‘By Any Means’ Trailer Breakdown

Paramount has released multiple trailers for ‘By Any Means’ over the course of 2026, gradually revealing more of the central partnership at the heart of the film. The first official trailer arrived in early June 2026, introducing the core premise and the uneasy alliance between its two leads.

A second trailer followed, expanding on the investigation and the tension between the FBI agent and the mobster he is forced to rely on. The final trailer arrived in August 2026, focusing on FBI agent Wayne Strider, played by Abdul-Mateen II, who grows frustrated with the rising number of unsolved cases tied to the killings of civil rights leaders in 1960s Mississippi and is offered an unconventional path forward, a partnership with mafia hitman Gregory Scarpa, played by Wahlberg.

The trailer emphasizes how differently the two men operate, with Strider seeking justice through his position as an agent while Scarpa relies on violence and intimidation, a contrast the footage frames as an unlikely but effective combination. Wahlberg’s physical transformation into Scarpa, achieved through hair, makeup, and styling, has been highlighted as making him nearly unrecognizable in the role.

Beyond the trailers, Paramount also released a character featurette centered on Wahlberg’s portrayal of Scarpa. A test screening for the film reportedly went well with its audience, with Wahlberg’s performance as the real life mafia hitman said to have left viewers reacting loudly during the screening.

‘By Any Means’ Cast

The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Josh Lucas, Nicole Beharie, Ethan Embry, LisaGay Hamilton, LaChanze, Giancarlo Esposito, and David Strathairn. Wahlberg plays Gregory Scarpa, described in promotional material as one of the most ruthless mobsters in history, while Abdul-Mateen II plays FBI agent Wayne Strider.

Wahlberg originally led the cast alongside Sterling K. Brown, but Abdul-Mateen II joined the project in February 2025, replacing Brown due to scheduling conflicts. Principal photography then began on April 15, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Nicole Beharie, Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas, David Strathairn, Ethan Embry, LisaGay Hamilton, and LaChanze all joined the cast in April 2025, rounding out the ensemble around the two leads. The film is directed by Elegance Bratton from a script by Sascha Penn, based on the 2018 Black List script CI-34 that Penn co-wrote with Theodore Witcher.

Producers on the film include Alex Lebovici for Hammerstone Studios, Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee for Thunder Road Films, Chester Algernal Gordon for Freedom Principle, Stephen Levinson, and Wahlberg himself through his Closest to the Hole banner. Iwanyk’s producing credits include ‘Sicario,’ ‘The Town,’ and ‘John Wick,’ a pedigree that has been cited as an indicator of the tone audiences should expect from the film.

‘By Any Means’ Plot Explained

‘By Any Means’ follows a young Black FBI agent sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a series of killings targeting civil rights leaders. That agent, Wayne Strider, hits a wall in his investigation and is forced to turn to an unorthodox source of help in Gregory Scarpa, an infamous mafia hitman.

The story is based on the true account of a mafia hitman who was hired off the books by Hoover’s FBI and partnered with a young Black special agent to hunt down those responsible for the murders of civil rights leaders in Mississippi in 1966. As the two men work together, they are pulled into a deadly hunt where the line between justice and vengeance begins to blur.

Strider largely serves as the more restrained, straight man presence in the story, in contrast to Wahlberg’s more volatile and colorful portrayal of Scarpa, who is shown engaging in shootouts and a disturbing torture scene in the trailers. The tagline used across marketing materials frames the premise directly, stating that the FBI could not crack the case, so they called in the mob.

Bratton has spoken about the thematic intent behind the project as well. The director has described ‘By Any Means’ as a story about unlikely alliances forged under impossible circumstances, exploring the demands of confronting violence as a system and the cost of seeking truth in a world of chaos. Critics previewing the trailers have noted tonal similarities to ‘Green Book’ in its unlikely partnership between the leads, alongside echoes of the corrupt institutions and morally compromised law enforcement seen in ‘L.A. Confidential.’

Where to Watch By Any Means

‘By Any Means’ is set for a theatrical only release, arriving in theaters nationwide on September 4, 2026, through Paramount Pictures. No streaming or home release window has been announced alongside the theatrical date, which is standard for a wide theatrical rollout of this scale.

The film currently has a page live on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its release, though audience and critic scores were not yet available at the time of this writing. Given the Labor Day weekend positioning and the crowded release slate that weekend, moviegoers looking to see ‘By Any Means’ will need to check local showtimes as the date approaches.

Between Wahlberg’s transformation into a real life mobster and Abdul-Mateen II anchoring a story rooted in one of the more unusual chapters of FBI history, ‘By Any Means’ arrives with a clear point of view on justice and its limits, and it will be worth hearing what audiences make of Strider and Scarpa’s uneasy alliance once the film actually opens.