LOS GATOS, September 13 — Netflix has released the first trailer for “Below,” an underwater thriller led by Josh Hartnett, giving audiences their first extended look at a film that had until now existed only as an announced project. The clip, published to Netflix’s official YouTube channel, follows Hartnett’s character as he works to unravel a mystery unfolding beneath the surface of the water.
It leans hard on the tension between the isolation of the deep and the mounting uncertainty facing its lead — the two things the subgenre has always traded on.
A familiar face, a second act
For Hartnett, the trailer marks another step in one of the more unlikely career arcs in recent Hollywood memory. Born July 21, 1978, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he broke through in the late 1990s and early 2000s with “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (1998), “The Virgin Suicides” (1999), “Pearl Harbor” (2001) and “Black Hawk Down” (2001). Then he walked away from the biggest rooms in the business.
Beginning in the mid-2000s, Hartnett stepped back from high-profile Hollywood work — a decision that, at the time, looked like a retreat. It reads differently now.
He returned to prominence through “Penny Dreadful” (2014-2016), “Wrath of Man” (2021), “Oppenheimer” (2023), “Trap” (2024) and “Fight or Flight” (2025), a run that has made him a familiar face to streaming audiences in particular.
The subgenre he’s stepping into
“Below” joins a long tradition of underwater-set thrillers, a subgenre whose appeal rests on confined settings, limited visibility and the constant threat of the environment itself. The predecessors are well known to anyone who has watched the genre closely: “The Abyss” (1989), “Deep Blue Sea” (1999), “Open Water” (2003) and “47 Meters Down” (2017). Netflix has invested heavily in original films across genres in recent years, and a trailer release is typically the first major marketing beat ahead of a premiere date.
That is what this is — the moment “Below” transitions from an announced title into a marketed one with a public-facing first look. What remains unconfirmed is substantial.
The film’s exact release date has not been announced. Nor have the full cast beyond Hartnett, the director and writers, the production budget, or any box-office expectations — the last of those largely moot, since “Below” is a streaming release rather than a theatrical one. Those details would typically arrive alongside or after the trailer in subsequent marketing materials.
For now, the trailer itself is the confirmed, verifiable artifact. It establishes the film’s premise and its star without settling its release logistics.
Audiences interested in underwater thrillers, or simply in what Hartnett does next, can find the clip on Netflix’s official YouTube channel, where the company posts trailers for its original films and series. Watch for a premiere date to follow.
