\n\t\t\t\t\tApple Original Films dropped the first trailer for Mayday on July 15, casting Ryan Reynolds as a Navy pilot stranded behind Soviet lines in 1987 and Kenneth Branagh as the ex-KGB agent who finds him. The Cold War buddy comedy pairs two actors rarely seen sharing a screen, let alone a snowbound survival plot. Mayday premieres globally on Apple TV on September 4.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A Navy pilot crash-lands deep in Russian territory in 1987, and the man who finds him used to work for the KGB. That is the entire premise Apple TV bet on when it unveiled the footage on July 15, and the pairing alone explains the buzz: Ryan Reynolds as the wisecracking Lieutenant Troy \u201cAssassin\u201d Kelly, Kenneth Branagh as Nikolai Ustinov, a gruff former agent with an odd soft spot for American culture. Behind the camera, \u201cGame Night\u201d duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have described the project as a spiritual cousin to \u201cMisery,\u201d swapping a snowbound cabin for the frozen expanse of the Cold War. The full film lands on Apple TV September 4.<\/p>\n
A Cold War duo lands in the spotlight<\/p>\n
Apple Original Films released the first trailer for Mayday on July 15, 2026, pairing Ryan Reynolds with Kenneth Branagh in an action-comedy set in 1987, at the height of the Cold War. The film skips theaters entirely and arrives exclusively on Apple TV<\/a> on September 4, 2026.<\/p>\n A hotshot pilot stranded behind enemy lines<\/p>\n Reynolds plays Lieutenant Troy \u201cAssassin\u201d Kelly, a cocky U.S. Navy pilot sent on a top-secret mission into Russian territory. The operation implodes, leaving him stranded deep in Soviet wilderness. An ominous voice in the trailer sets the tone early: \u201cYou are now crossing Soviet airspace.\u201d<\/p>\n Branagh steps in as Nikolai Ustinov, a gruff ex-KGB agent with an unexpected fondness for American culture, who stumbles upon the downed pilot. Their uneasy alliance drives the story, and Branagh gets one of the trailer\u2019s driest lines<\/a>: \u201cOh good, you have not died.\u201d<\/p>\n The Game Night duo behind the camera<\/p>\n Mayday is written and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the team behind Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The supporting cast includes Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorocinski, and David Morse. Skydance\u2018s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger produce alongside Maximum Effort\u2019s Ashley Fox and Johnny Pariseau, with Reynolds also serving as executive producer.<\/p>\n