First Leave the World Behind trailer sees a vacationing Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts try to navigate an apocalypse

Oct. 2, 2023

“There is no going back to normal”

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The first trailer for new Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind is here – and it sees Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts try to navigate an apocalypse while on vacation in Long Island.

Written and directed by Sam Esmail, who previously collaborated with Roberts on his Prime Video series Homecoming, the psychological thriller sees Hawke and Roberts play Amanda and Clay, while Mahershala Ali stars as G.H., the owner of the home they’re renting.

In the teaser, which you can watch above, the suited-and-booted latter gatecrashes Amanda and Clay’s holiday with his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) one fateful evening. Later, he explains to the unsuspecting pair that there’s more to the widely reported blackouts dominating the news than meets the eye.

Kevin Bacon also features in the flick, which is based on Rumaan Alam’s best-selling novel of the same name and wasproduced by former US president Barack Obama.

“The truth is much scarier,” G.H. warns. “Aren’t you the one who always said if you’re not paranoid by now, it’s too late?” Ruth asks her father, as a montage of increasingly bizarre things – a swarm of red insects, a ship heading headfirst into a beach, and a window cracking all on its own – plays out.

“Haven’t you been picking up on what’s going on out there?” Bacon’s doomsday prepper says in another scene. Needless to say, it’s all very, very ominous…

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I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.

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