Watch The Official Trailer For Will Smith’s New Film ‘Emancipation’

Days after a first screening of upcoming Will Smith Emancipation, Apple TV+ releases trailer for the slavery resistance epic.

Will Smith is back on the screen. One year following Smith’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Richard Williams in biopic King Richard, on Monday (October 3), Apple TV+ released the official trailer for his upcoming film Emancipation. The Antoine Fuqua-directed film had its first screening on Saturday during the NAACP-hosted Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 51st Annual Legislative Conference.

“Throughout my career, I’ve turned down many films that were set in slavery,” Smith said at the event, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I never wanted to show us like that. And then this picture came along. And this is not a film about slavery. This is a film about freedom. This is a film about resilience. This is a film about faith.”

“This is a film about the heart of a man—what could be called the first viral image,” Smith continued. “Cameras had just been created, and the image of whipped Peter went around the world. It was a rallying cry against slavery, and this was a story that exploded and blossomed in my heart that I wanted to be able to deliver to you in a way that only Antoine Fuqua could deliver.”

Emancipation tells the story of a real-life slave named Peter, whose whipped back was the focus of an infamous “viral” photograph taken during a medical examination during Peter’s time in the Union Army. Also starring in Emancipation are Ben Foster, Steven Ogg, Charmaine Bingwa, Mustafa Shakir and more.

The film is scheduled to release on December 9. Watch the Emancipation trailer below.