The first trailer for Mayday arrived on July 14, offering the clearest look yet at Apple TV+'s costliest bet of the year. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the film sends Ryan Reynolds into the Soviet Union as Lt. Troy "Assassin" Kelly, a U.S. Navy pilot stranded behind enemy lines after a classified Cold War mission goes wrong. His only lifeline: Kenneth Branagh as Nikolai Ustinov, a former KGB officer with a deep affinity for American pop culture.
The setup turns. Goldstein told The Hollywood Reporter that "the intention was to give you a bit of a rug pull in terms of the genre and tone," describing the film as a "spiritual cousin to Misery" that shifts registers as it goes. Branagh performed much of his own stunt work. "He would get to the set early and practice these stunts very elaborately," Goldstein said.
The supporting cast includes Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorocinski, Clark Johnson, and David Morse. The film was produced by Skydance's David Ellison, who brought firsthand knowledge to the material. "He knew the world we were playing in very well," Goldstein said. "We would get notes on very specific things."
Mayday was completed in mid-2024 and heads to Apple TV+ on September 4 without a theatrical release. The film reportedly cost upward of $100 million. Goldstein and Daley previously directed Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Game Night, and Vacation.