Javier Bardem Stalks Apple's New Cape Fear

Javier Bardem is back in full menace mode, this time stalking Apple TV+. The streamer dropped the first teaser Tuesday for its 10-episode take on Cape Fear, with the first two episodes arriving June 5, as Bardem steps into the role of revenge-obsessed ex-con Max Cady. Patrick Wilson and Amy Adams play the married attorneys whose comfortable suburban life unravels after Cady, convinced they buried evidence that could have cleared him of murder, walks out of prison. The setup tracks closely with Martin Scorsese's 1991 thriller, but Esquire notes that the new version leans harder into horror: the trailer hints at Cady as a possible servant of something demonic, complete with ominous, occult-style tattoos.

The project extends a legacy that began with the 1962 film adaptation of John D. MacDonald's The Executioners, starring Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, and continued with Scorsese's remake led by Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, and Jessica Lange, notes the Hollywood Reporter. Scorsese returns here as an executive producer alongside Steven Spielberg—who originally passed the 1991 film to Scorsese over its violence, taking Schindler's List in exchange. Whether this edition matches the earlier films or not, it's clearly built as a showcase for Bardem at his most unsettling.