Austin Butler and Tom Hardy star as ’60s-era outsiders who lead a motorcycle gang’s descent into drug running and violence in first trailer for The Bikeriders

Austin Butler and Tom Hardy roared back into action on Wednesday with the release of the trailer for their upcoming biker drama The Bikeriders.

The 32-year-old Elvis star — whose appearance in Dune: Part Two has been pushed back to 2024 as studios continue to slow walk negotiations with striking writers and actors — and the 45-year-old Venom actor star as the leaders of a 1960s-era biker club in the upcoming film.

The movie charts how Hardy’s character Johnny convinces his friend and mentee Benny to take his second-in-command position for the club, with plans to eventually succeed him as its leader.

But the trailer, which also features major contributions from Jodie Comer, Michael Shannon and West Side Story’s Mike Faist, reveals how the group gets wrapped up in escalating criminality with potentially deadly consequences.

The movie, which will be released in theaters on December 1, marks the first picture directed by Jeff Nichols since 2016’s Midnight Special. 

Need for speed: Austin Butler and Tom Hardy roared back into action on Wednesday with the release of the trailer for their upcoming biker drama The Bikeriders, out on December 1

Leading men: Hardy stars as biker club leader Johnny, while Butler plays his mentee Benny who accepts a second-in-command position as the group descends into violence and criminality

‘I’ve been thinkin’… I can’t run this club forever,’ Johnny says hesitantly during a late-night conversation with Benny at the start of the trailer.

‘I built this from nothing,’ he continues as he’s seen leading a caravan of bikers from the Chicago-based Vandals club.

‘This is our family,’ he adds as the bikers, including Shannon, are seen drinking beer at a rural gathering. 

‘You and me kid,’ he tells Benny, as the film cuts to Benny grabbing a revolver from a drawer and Johnny seemingly stabbing a man in the gut with a switchblade outside of a bar. 

The trailer then reveals that the events of the film, inspired by real life and the 1068 photo book of the same name by Danny Lyon, are being presented after the fact by Benny’s wife Kathy (Comer).

She’s seen conversing with an interested journalist, played by Faist. 

In flashback, she admits that she ‘never felt as out of place in all my life’ as she enters a smoky bar filled with bikers, only to see Benny dramatically raise his head into the light while at a pool table.

‘He took my breath away,’ she says in what sounds like it is meant to be a thick Chicago accent. 

‘I’ve been thinkin’… I can’t run this club forever,’ Johnny says during a late-night conversation with Benny at the start. ‘I built this from nothing,’ he continues as he’s seen leading a caravan of bikers from the Chicago-based Vandals club

Letting loose: ‘This is our family,’ he adds as the bikers, including Shannon, are seen drinking beer at a rural gathering

Violence: ‘You and me kid,’ he tells Benny, as the film cuts to Benny grabbing a revolver from a drawer and Johnny seemingly stabbing a man in the gut with a switchblade outside of a bar

Her story: The trailer then reveals that the events of the film, inspired by real life and the 1068 photo book of the same name by Danny Lyon, are being presented after the fact by Benny’s wife Kathy (Comer)

Record keeper: She’s seen conversing with an interested journalist, played by Faist

She admits that they were married weeks later.

But Kathy says she hoped to change Benny, even though it’s clear that would have been impossible as he’s seen punching a group of men in a brawl.

Things escalate when he gets a drink at a bar run by a rival group. After the owners tell him to take his Vandals jacket off, Benny says they’d have to ‘kill’ him to remove it.

He gets a bar stool to the head for that line, and he’s tossed out onto the street before he removes a switchblade from his boot and appears to slash one of his assailants on his face.

In retaliation for the attack, Johnny orders other bikers to set the bar ablaze.

Then Kathy shares how things went south for the biker gang.

‘They started running drugs,’ she says, adding that the group got into ‘gambling’ and ‘prostitution.’ 

‘Is that what this club is now?’ Benny asks Johnny sternly as he appears to confront him over the gang’s actions.

No hope: But Kathy says she hoped to change Benny, even though it’s clear that would have been impossible as he’s seen punching a group of men in a brawl

Ouch: Things escalate when he gets a drink at a bar run by a rival group, and they proceed to beat him up

Tit for tat: In retaliation for the attack, Johnny orders other bikers to set the bar ablaze

Downhill from here: Then Kathy shares how things went south for the biker gang. ‘They started running drugs,’ she says, adding that the group got into ‘gambling’ and ‘prostitution’

Can’t quit: Kathy begs Benny to quit the gang, but he refuses, and Johnny is seen telling him that he ‘needs’ him in the group

Coming soon: The Bikeriders will be released in theaters on December 1, 2023

Even murder seems to be on the menu, as men in Vandals jackets are seen holding guns to the backs of two men on their knees, as if they are about to execute them. 

Kathy begs Benny to quit the gang, but he refuses, and Johnny is seen telling him that he ‘needs’ him in the group.

The trailer ends with Johnny telling Johnny to ‘just think it over’ with a sinister leer.

The Bikeriders will be released in theaters on December 1, 2023.

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