2026 is an especially big year for Robert Pattinson. He’s already starred opposite Zendaya in the A24 romantic black comedy The Drama. This summer, he’s re-teaming with director Christopher Nolan to play Antonius in The Odyssey, and in December, he’ll portray the villainous Scytale in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three. He’s also attached to Netflix’s Here Comes the Flood, which doesn’t have a specific release date yet.
This week, however, Pattinson received attention for another A24 movie he has lined up for the fall. The Primetime trailer premiered on Wednesday, giving the public their first taste of the actor in his role as Chris Hansen, who hosted To Catch a Predator from 2004 to 2007. The narrative feature will delve into the origins of the Dateline NBC program, which saw Hansen confronting men at a sting house who believed they were coming inside to have sex with minors.
Based off the short preview, Primetime looks like it’ll be another excellent showcase of Pattinson’s acting talents. However, before the movie is released, those interested in watching it should make sure they’ve seen the 2025 documentary Predators first.
What Predators Covers About To Catch A Predator
MTV Documentary Films
Produced by MTV Documentary Films, Predators, one of the best documentaries to stream at home, explores how To Catch a Predator broke through the pop culture zeitgeist in the mid-2000s. That includes director David Osit interviewing not just Chris Hansen, but also some of the actors who played “decoys” during these stings. Through these conversations, the interviewees open up about how they feel conflicted regarding their involvement in the show two decades later.
Though To Catch a Predator was popular, it also attracted controversy because of its sensational premise. Namely, critics argued that the show was more interested in making news through its partnership on these stings with local law enforcement and the now-defunct watchdog group Perverted Justice. There was also debate about whether the methods used to lure these men legally counted as entrapment.
All this came to a head on November 5, 2006, in Murphy, Texas when Kaufman County assistant district attorney Bill Conradt died by suicide. He was one of three men who solicited a Perverted Justice volunteer pretending to be a minor, but didn’t show up at the sting house. Police went to Conradt’s house to serve an arrest warrant, with the To Catch a Predator filming this. However, Conradt shot himself once the police forcibly entered the residence.
Following Conradt’s estate suing Dateline (the case was ultimately settled out of court) and ABC’s 20/20 conducting its own investigation into what happened, NBC canceled To Catch a Predator in 2008. However, along with Hansen continuing to confront online predators in his TruBu series Takedown with Chris Hansen, Predators also covers how numerous copycat versions of the show have sprung up online.
Why Predators Should Be Watched Before Primetime
MTV Documentary Films
It stands to reason that most of the people who will see Primetime watched To Catch a Predator when it was on NBC, or are at least familiar with it. However, the show’s uncomfortable behind-the-scenes details aren’t nearly as well known. That’s why it’s worth watching Predators before seeing Primetime, as it will give moviegoers a better appreciation of the dramatized events being anchored by Pattinson’s portrayal of Hansen.
In particular, it’s worth knowing ahead of time about what happened to Conradt, as that will likely serve as the movie’s climax. That way, they’ll be braced for the shocking event to unfold rather than be taken off guard. Additionally, barring a big jump forward in time, presumably Primetime will end with To Catch a Predator’s cancelation, or shortly thereafter. Assuming this is correct, then Predators provides compelling supplemental material about how the news program’s influence is still being felt so many years later.
Primetime arrives in theaters on September 11. Director Lance Oppenheim is making his narrative feature film debut with this upcoming 2026 movie, and Ajon Singh wrote the script. Robert Pattinson’s fellow cast members include Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisono, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, Phoebe Bridgers, Sean Bridgers, and Anna Faris.
