Judas and the Black Messiah, which stars LaKeith Stanfield as FBI informant William O’Neal and Daniel Kaluuya as Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, is one of the biggest films Warner Bros. has arriving in 2021. And they clearly think highly of it, because they’ve just given it an awards season release date of February 12th, both in theaters and on HBO Max like all of their upcoming slate.
Based on a true story, the film follows criminal William O’Neal as he turns FBI Informant to help take down his friend, Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. Joining Stanfield and Kaluuya in the cast are Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Martin Sheen, Algee Smith, Jermaine Fowler, and Lil Rel Howery.
If you’ve ever seen how things turned out for Hampton, drugged by his supposed friend so he’d be caught unaware when the cops burst in ready to fire, then you’ll know why this story needed to be told and from the perspective of O’Neal. Based on the trailer from a few months ago director Shaka King is bringing a lot of style and energy to the telling.
