Nicolas Cage Battles Satan In The Carpenter’s Son Trailer, A Daring Jesus Origin Story
Magnolia Pictures has unveiled the trailer for The Carpenter’s Son, with Nicolas Cage as Joseph, teasing a November release that turns Jesus’ childhood into a dark, nerve-tightening showdown when Satan arrives and sparks a dangerous rift between Noah Jupe’s young Jesus and his father.
Magnolia Pictures just dropped a new trailer for 'The Carpenter's Son,' and yeah, Nicolas Cage is playing Joseph. It is exactly as intense as that sounds: a moody, supernatural spin on Jesus' early years that leans into father-son friction, creeping evil, and Cage doing the tormented-dad thing like only Cage can.
The setup
The story plants the Holy Family in a remote village in Roman-era Egypt, where an unwelcome visitor shows up: Satan. From there, the trailer builds around a rattled Joseph trying to keep a lid on a teenage Jesus who doesn’t fully grasp the scope of his own power. Joseph admits he can’t control it, leans hard on faith as his last line of defense, and then the bottom drops out.
'My faith has been shattered'
That line lands late and loud, while a mysterious stranger who’s been nudging Jesus to ignore his dad finally reveals herself as the adversary outright. Not subtle, but effective.
Who’s who
- Nicolas Cage as Joseph
- Noah Jupe as Jesus
- FKA twigs as Mary
- Isla Johnston as the stranger who tempts Jesus (and, per the trailer’s end, is the devil in disguise)
What it’s pulling from (and why some folks are already mad)
This isn’t based on the canonical Gospels. Writer/director Lotfy Nathan (who made 'Harka') is drawing from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a centuries-old text that never made it into the Bible and has a more provocative take on Jesus as a kid and teen. Nathan has also talked about bringing in his Coptic Christian upbringing, and the film is being pitched as a genre blend — think supernatural thriller with stark, battling images of the divine and the demonic. Given the source and the angle, it’s already stirring pushback in some religious circles, which is pretty much baked into the premise.
The vibe
Visually, it’s all dust, dread, and slow-burn menace. The trailer frames Joseph as a man of faith out of his depth, trying to shepherd a son who’s both beloved and dangerously beyond human scale. By the end, it’s less 'quiet period piece' and more 'spiritual warfare in a village pressure cooker.'
The Cage factor
Cage has quietly become Mr. Prestige-Adjacent Horror in recent years — 'Mandy,' 'Arcadian,' 'Renfield,' 'Longlegs' — so him anchoring a dark, religious psychodrama makes sense. Whether the movie actually sticks the genre-bending landing is TBD, but the trailer gives him plenty of room to spiral, and that’s usually a good sign.
Release date
Magnolia plans to release 'The Carpenter's Son' in US theaters on November 14, 2025. If you’ve seen mentions of 'this November,' that’s referring to the same November — the actual date is November 14.