‘Origin’: First Image Teases Ava DuVernay’s Latest Star-Studded Drama!! Check It Out!!

First announced in 2020, news has been slowly trickling out surrounding Emmy and BAFTA winner Ava DuVernay’s latest star-studded feature film. In the past, the director brought Netflix the crushing documentary 13th as well as the four-part series, When They See Us. Now, she’s shifted her gaze to adapt Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 New York Times bestselling non-fiction book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents for the big screen. Today, prospective audiences are getting a first look at two of the leading characters in Origin, played by the Emmy-nominated Jon Bernthal (The Bear) and Critics’ Choice Award recipient, Niecy Nash-Betts (Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story).

The image sees the two characters embracing during an emotionally charged moment. Not only are each of the actors playing out the gutting scene on their faces, but the background further drives home a hopeless feeling, with the fall or winter appearing to be in full swing as the trees in the background are bare, and the characters are bundled up. While we don’t yet know who the characters are or the relationship between them, the image promises that Nash-Betts and Bernthal are going to be putting on another top-tier, attention-grabbing performance in Origin.

In the book, Wilkerson broke down the caste system found within the United States, a broken structure molded by racism, hierarchy, and the flippant ways in which some are included while others are excluded. As a journalist, Wilkerson used examples of similar institutions through time including the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany. Along with directing, DuVernay also penned the screenplay and, as she’s telling it from a dramatized standpoint rather than from that of a documentary, it isn’t completely clear how she’ll adapt the story for the screen.

Who Else Is in Origin?

Along with Bernthal and Nash-Betts, the feature has several other big names dotting the call sheet. Included are Nick Offerman (The Last of Us, Parks and Recreation), Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard), Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring franchise), Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman), Jasmine Cephas Jones (Hamilton), Myles Frost (MJ the Musical), Victoria Pedretti (The Haunting of Hill House, You), Leonardo Nam (Westworld), Audra McDonald (The Good Fight), Donna Mills (Nope), Blair Underwood (L.A. Law), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story), Mieke Schymura, Isha Blaaker and Emily Yancy.

At this time, Origin has not revealed a release window, but the title is set to celebrate its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September. Check out the first look of Bernthal and Nash-Betts below.