The Bikeriders: What We Know About Austin Butler’s Next Film

Sure, Easy Rider is one the best motorcycle films of all time, but The Bikeriders looks like it’ll make a play for the crown. The upcoming drama boasts an all-star cast, including Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Michael Shannon, Tom Hardy, Norman Reedus, and Mike Faist. (Not to mention classic motorcycles from the age of rock ‘n’ roll.) If the trailer is any indication, we’re in for a wild ride.

The Bikeriders serves as director Jeff Nichols’s first feature film since Loving (2016), which followed the Matthew McConaughey-starring Mud (2012). The Bikeriders takes place in the 1960s, following a fictional Chicago motorcycle club called the Vandals. The film is based on a 1967 photo book of the same by Danny Lyon, which is one of the most celebrated works of journalism about motorcycle club culture.

After a delay due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, The Bikeriders will officially premiere in theaters on June 21, 2024. The film was initially scheduled to debut this past December, but the New Regency team had to course-correct when 20th Century Studios took it off the release calendar. Shopping for a new home, The Bikeriders landed with Focus Features. (Universal is handing the film’s international distribution.) Now, audiences will finally see The Bikeriders this summer. According to the official synopsis, the movie will track the club as it evolves over the course of a decade. As their situation becomes increasingly dangerous, tensions begin to threaten the bonds that the group holds dear.

“I’m more drawn to film and theater,” Butler told Esquire in our latest cover story, adding that he’s most interested in, “Directors and actors, the character, the story.” The trailer focuses on a strained relationship between Benny (Butler) and Kathy (Comer), as Benny refuses to pull himself out of the bikers’ conflict. Take it from Tom Hardy’s character, Johnny: “If he wants to ride a bike, he’ll ride a bike.”