The official trailer for Warner Bros. Just Mercy, which stars Michael B. Jordan and is based on a true story, has arrived. Just Mercy is the latest from director Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12) with Oscar winners Brie Larson and Jamie Foxx joining Jordan to tell the riveting legal drama of a lawyer's fight to free a wrongly-convicted man from death row.

"The first time I visited death row, I wasn't expecting to meet somebody the same age as me," Jordan, as Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, shares in voiceover. From there, the trailer explores the fight Bryan and his client, Walter McMillian (Foxx), have ahead of them as Bryan tries to get Walter off death row. Walter isn't entirely sold on Bryan, pushing back against him during one of their meetings and telling him, "You don't know what you're into down here in Alabama, where you're guilty from the moment you're born." This is going to be a tough, tough journey for both men and it's perfectly summed up by Walter in this moment.

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Image via Warner Bros.

The trailer also introduces Larson's character, Eva Ansley. Eva is a local advocate who comes aboard Bryan's team after he sets up shop in Alabama, assisting him with his caseload. Soon, as we see in the trailer, Bryan and Eva's work grows as they speak with other death row inmates. It becomes clear that Bryan's fight isn't just about freeing Walter, but about fighting to stop systemic injustices and prejudices which cause men of color like Walter to end up wrongly-convicted in the first place.

Cretton co-wrote the script with Andrew Lanham, which is based on the real-life Stevenson's memoir Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. In addition to Jordan, Foxx, and Larson, Just Mercy also stars Tim Blake NelsonRafe SpallO'Shea Jackson Jr., and Rob Morgan.

Just Mercy will be shown at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (check out our most anticipated TIFF movies here). It arrives in theaters on January 10, 2020. Check out the official trailer below:

The official synopsis for Just Mercy is here:

A powerful and thought-provoking true story, Just Mercy follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice.  After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs.  Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson).  One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie.  In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.

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Image via Warner Bros.
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Image via Warner Bros.
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Image via Warner Bros.