Netflix Just Released a Christmas Thriller

Netflix is adding even more thrills and twists to holiday travel this season. The streamer released Carry-On, a gripping new thriller from Jaume Collet-Serra starring Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman, on Friday, Dec. 13.

Carry-On follows TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Egerton) as he fights to save the lives of his girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) and holiday travelers from the nefarious plot of the Traveler (Bateman) and his team of assassins, who have threatened to kill Nora if Ethan doesn’t allow a bomb-filled suitcase through security.

Ethan may start the film as an average TSA agent working at LAX on Christmas Eve, but his determination to save the lives of innocent people takes him on a journey full of twists and turns.

“It’s like a ’90s action-thriller,” Egerton said of the film on TODAY. “I read the script, and I just thought, ‘That’s a movie I want to see.’ The buy-in is immediate. Guy gets an earwig on the busiest day of the year, puts it in his ear and they threaten his girlfriend. It’s such a good setup for a movie.”

The Golden Globe Award-winning actor described Ethan as “a bit of a hero in waiting” in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, calling him “really resourceful and capable” as well as “noble and selfless,” despite lacking a bit of direction in his life early on.

“He’s unhappy at work at the airport and feeling flat and dejected about it. He’s also just found out his girlfriend is pregnant,” the actor said of his character at the beginning of the film. “So, he feels pressure to be a responsible father and provider, but I think he also feels a deep lack of fulfillment. So when he’s put in this terrible situation, he has a huge occasion to rise to.”

Also getting into the action is police detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler), whose regular holiday patrol turns into something far more dangerous as she joins the effort to stop the Traveler’s piece of luggage from ending up on a fully booked plane.

Other Carry-On cast members include Sinqua Walls, Logan Marshall-Green, Theo Rossi, Josh Brener, and Dean Norris. Carry-On is streaming now on Netflix.