A24’s PRIMETIME Trailer Features Robert Pattinson as TO CATCH A PREDATOR Host Chris Hansen
A24 has released the first teaser trailer for Primetime, and it offers a pretty surreal sight. Robert Pattinson transforms into infamous To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen for what looks like a tense and unsettling drama-thriller inspired by one of the strangest chapters in reality TV history.
The film comes from Ren Faire director Lance Oppenheim, working from a script by Ajon Singh. The cast also includes Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, and musician Phoebe Bridgers.
The official logline reads: “In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history.”
Anyone familiar with the NBC series knows 2006 was the year things spiraled into chaos for the show. To Catch a Predator became one of the biggest pop culture phenomena of the mid-2000s, mixing investigative journalism with sting operations that targeted suspected child predators. Hansen would famously confront the men on camera before police moved in.
But the series also became controversial. One of the biggest turning points came during a 2006 operation in Murphy, Texas. Assistant district attorney Bill Conradt took his own life after law enforcement and an NBC camera crew arrived at his home as part of the investigation.
The Murphy sting resulted in the arrest of 25 men over four days, but the fallout was intense. Local backlash grew quickly, and eventually the Collin County district attorney’s office refused to prosecute any of the arrested individuals connected to the operation.
That darker side of the story appears to be the territory Primetime is exploring. The teaser doesn’t reveal much plot-wise, but it leans heavily into the pressure, spectacle, and uncomfortable media circus surrounding the series at its peak.
Pattinson looks completely locked into the role, capturing Hansen’s calm television presence while hinting at the growing tension underneath it all.
Even though To Catch a Predator only aired 20 episodes between 2004 and 2007, the show somehow never disappeared from public consciousness. Clips from the series have lived on for years through viral YouTube compilations and internet memes, turning the program into a bizarre permanent fixture of online culture.
Now A24 is bringing that story back into the spotlight with what looks like a sharp and unsettling character-driven thriller.
Primetime is set to hit theaters in fall 2026.