Brad Pitt Returns as Cliff Booth: First Teaser Premieres During the Super Bowl

Netflix pulled a Super Bowl sneak attack: Brad Pitt is back as Cliff Booth, and the first teaser for The Adventures of Cliff Booth dropped right in the middle of Super Bowl LX. Short, stylish, and very much its own vibe, the spot finally confirms the long-rumored Once Upon a Time in Hollywood follow-up is real, and it is not what I expected.

The teaser

The one-minute preview aired February 8, 2026 and wastes no time reintroducing Cliff as the laconic chaos magnet we remember. Over retro needle-drops, we see him icing a busted knee, posted up at a bar, and absolutely sending it in a beat-up derby car on a dirt track. The promo keeps cutting to flashes of nudity, profanity, guns, and cigarettes, all cheekily censored like an old TV broadcast. It is playful in that wry, yes-we-know-what-we’re-doing way.

Cliff gets one clean line that feels like a mission statement:

'I don't possess many talents, but I know better than to get in the way of a good story.'

We also meet a few new faces: Elizabeth Debicki and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II cross paths with Cliff, and the teaser briefly shows an Oscar sitting on his desk. Subtle, it is not, and yes, that reads like a wink to Pitt’s real Academy Award for playing this guy. A title card promises a summer launch on Netflix.

Where this picks up

The story jumps to the 1970s, after Cliff’s stint doubling Rick Dalton and after that very memorable night that rewrote a certain infamous Los Angeles crime. Rick is not in the picture this time; Leonardo DiCaprio does not appear. The vibe feels looser and dustier, more rambling road than studio backlot.

Who is involved

• Director: David Fincher
• Writer: Quentin Tarantino
• Star: Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth
• Cast: Elizabeth Debicki, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Carla Gugino, Scott Caan, Holt McCallany, Peter Weller, JB Tadena
• Returning: Timothy Olyphant as James Stacy
• Producers: Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, David Heyman, Cean Chaffin, Stacey Sher
• Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt
• Shot on location in Los Angeles

The unusual twist

Here’s the wrinkle: Tarantino wrote the script but handed the directing reins to Fincher. That pairing alone is a curveball. Tarantino has been open about why he stepped back, and he did not mince words:

'I love this script, but I'm still walking down the same ground I've already walked. It just kind of unenthused me.'

'This last movie, I've got to not know what I'm doing again. I've got to be in uncharted territory.'

So we get a Tarantino world filtered through Fincher’s precision, with Pitt back in his loosest, most deceptively dangerous gear. The teaser’s comic censor bars and that trophy flex suggest the movie knows exactly how big Cliff has gotten in people’s heads and is happy to play with it.

The bottom line

The Adventures of Cliff Booth hits Netflix this summer. After that teaser, I’m expecting sunburnt pulp, cigarettes you can practically smell, and at least one scene where Cliff grins his way out of an impossible mess. Works for me.