Halloween mix-up sparks kidnapping nightmare in Netflix's Animals
Two boys in matching Halloween costumes. One terrible mistake. That is where the trouble starts in Animals, the Netflix crime thriller now streaming after its release on 9 Oct 2026, according to Netflix.
Ben Affleck directs and stars in the film from a script he co-wrote with Billy Ray and Connor O. McIntyre, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix bills it both as a political thriller and as a kidnapping crime drama.
Affleck plays Mark Kimball, an independent candidate for mayor of Los Angeles whose campaign has secretly bankrupted his family. Kerry Washington plays Abigail, his wife, a therapist. Together they are parents scrambling to rescue their kidnapped son, as outlined in the trailer details shared by Netflix.
The rescue goes wrong from the start. The kidnappers confuse the couple’s son with another boy, Hector, because the two are dressed alike for Halloween, and take Hector instead. Adriana Paz plays Cecilia, the family’s nanny, and Luis Gerardo Méndez plays Ramon, Cecilia’s boyfriend. The wider cast includes Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun alongside Affleck and Washington, according to Netflix.
For Washington, the role is a straight acting turn. She serves strictly as a performer on Animals rather than as a producer, a change of pace for a star closely linked with producing. She is best known as political fixer Olivia Pope on ABC’s Scandal, a part that made her the first Black woman to lead a primetime network drama in nearly 40 years.
What makes this stand out for viewers is the domestic pressure inside the thriller. Mark is fighting an election while hiding money trouble. Abigail is trying to hold the family together while dealing with the nanny, the kidnappers and her husband’s secrets.
Off screen, Washington continues to build her production work elsewhere. Her banner Simpson Street is named after the Bronx street where her mother grew up. She has agreed to expand Imperfect Women from a limited series to an ongoing drama series. Affleck was also the first guest of the new season of her interview series Street You Grew Up On, which will run to at least 20 episodes.
