Prima Facie Trailer: Cynthia Erivo Takes the Stand in Courtroom Drama

The trailer

Sony Pictures released the official trailer for Prima Facie on September 22, giving audiences the first extended look at Cynthia Erivo in the lead role. The Prima Facie trailer opens on Tessa at the top of her game: a young barrister shown commanding the courtroom, defending clients including men accused of assault. ComingSoon's description of the footage calls her "one of the top legal minds," and the early scenes show exactly why. The mood shifts when Tessa becomes a victim herself, and the courtroom turns its questions on her, the same questions she once put to others.

The trailer closes on its tagline, "Consent should never be on trial," which Sony Pictures UK used to promote the film.

The story

Erivo plays Tessa, a working-class-born barrister who built her career on defending, cross-examining, and winning, including as a go-to defender of men charged with sexual assault, according to Blex Media. Tessa has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game, as BroadwayWorld's synopsis puts it, and the trailer leans on that rise before the fall. When she becomes an accuser herself, her case forces her to confront where the law's power, the burden of proof, and her own morals diverge, shaking the belief in the judicial system that once defined her identity.

Erivo stars alongside Daniel Ings, Toheeb Jimoh, and Noma Dumezweni, with a wider ensemble including Harry Treadaway, Simon Russell Beale, Elizabeth Dulau, Khalid Abdalla, Elliot Levey, and Bronagh Waugh, according to ComingSoon. Erivo also executive produces through her banner, Edith's Daughter. Greer Simpkin, Kevin Loader, and David Jowsey served as producers on the film.

From stage to screen

The film is adapted from Suzie Miller's acclaimed one-woman play of the same name. The play premiered in Sydney in 2019, according to The Upcoming. Its Sydney Theatre Company production in 2022 went on to win the 2023 Australian Writers' Guild Award for Best New Play, according to Leverage On Heroes. Its examination of consent and the justice system found an audience well beyond Australia, which is what drew Hollywood's attention to the material.

Miller also wrote the screenplay, and Susanna White directs. White's credits include the television dramas Bleak House and Parade's End, according to The Upcoming. The adaptation keeps the play's structure of a single lawyer working through a case that becomes personal, but the film opens the story out to a full ensemble.

The stage production starred Jodie Comer, who won the Olivier Award for the West End run and the Tony Award for Best Actress for the Broadway production, according to Blex Media, among a string of other honors. BroadwayWorld notes the Broadway production earned four Tony nominations, with Comer winning for Best Actress. For audiences who never saw the play, the Prima Facie trailer is the first introduction to Tessa's story.

Miller has said the play was partly inspired by her experiences as a lawyer. In an interview with Playbill, she described how many women she knew at law school had bad experiences they struggled to put into words, as reported by ComingSoon. That gap between experience and language is the territory the film now explores on screen.

When it comes out

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month, according to ComingSoon and BroadwayWorld. The festival ran from September 10 to 20, putting Prima Facie in front of industry audiences just days before the trailer reached the public.

It opens in UK and Irish cinemas on November 13, and in Australia beginning January 14, 2027, according to Blex Media. Sony's UK campaign has led with Erivo's performance and the film's tagline. No North American release date has been announced. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are co-representing sales.

The Prima Facie trailer is the film's first major push to a general audience, arriving days after its festival debut. The trailer keeps Erivo at the center of nearly every frame, with the courtroom as the stage where the film's argument plays out. Audiences can watch it in ComingSoon's coverage of the release. For more trailer coverage, see our writeup of the Paper Tiger trailer.