John Cena's political thriller 'The Independent' won't hit theaters for Peacock

Peacock has secured the broadcast rights to "The Independent," a political thriller starring John Cena, "Succession's" Brian Cox, Ann Dowd ("The Handmaid's Tale") and Jodie Turner-Smith ("Queen & Slim "). The film from Relativity Media and director Amy Rice will skip theaters and stream exclusively on Peacock starting next week on November 2, just before the midterm elections.

"The Independent" follows a young journalist (Turner-Smith) who uncovers a plot involving an American presidential candidate that could change the election and the fate of the country in an election in which America would be on poised to elect either its first president (Dowd, who replaced Kathy Bates in the role) or its first viable (and presumably stolen) independent candidate (Cena). Turner-Smith's character teams up with a legendary reporter (Cox) to unravel the political conspiracy surrounding the election.

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Rice directed the film from a script by Evan Parter. The executive producers of "The Independent" are Laura Grange, Julia Stuart, Brian Cox, Jodie Turner-Smith, John Cena, Blair Ward, Anders Erdén, Eric Harbert, Bill Kiely, Whitney Moehle, Michael Arrieta, Marc Danon, David Robbins, Lex Miron, Amy Jarvela, Charles Stiefel, Brian O'Shea, Giovanna Trischitta, Nat McCormick, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Lance Acord and Cody Ryder. Parter produces with Sam Bisbee, Theodora Dunlap, Caddy Vanasirikul and Ryan Cunningham.

The film is a production of Park Pictures, Anonymous Content and NEXT Productions, in association with Orogen Entertainment and The Exchange. "The Independent" joins other Universal titles that have now found their way to Peacock, including "Beast", "Jurassic World Dominion", "Minions: The Rise of Gru", "Vengeance", "Brian and Charles", " The Black Phone", "Downton Abbey: A New Era", and "The Northman", as well as original titles like the LGBTQ+ horror thriller "They/Them".

Cena's role as the (fake) presidential candidate will be revealed weeks after his former WWE rival (and a bit of an actor himself, if you haven't not heard) Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson put to bed any remaining thoughts that he would run for the (real) President of the United States of America. Johnson said the idea was "out of place" and that the "most important thing" for him right now was "being a dad".

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