First trailer and images for Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty

Director Kathryn Bigelow returns with her first film since 2008's Academy Award-winner The Hurt Locker later this year with the sure-to-be-controversial Zero Dark Thirty, which chronicles the search and eventual special operations mission to kill Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. So far the project has been shrouded in secrecy, but now Entertainment Weekly has delivered the first look at the film, releasing five official images as well as a short teaser trailer:







"I guess you could call it many things. It’s a thriller, it’s a drama, it’s a mystery, it’s historical, it’s one of the great stories of our time. It traces the anatomy of the decade long hunt for the world’s most wanted man," states Bigelow as to what we can expect from Zero Dark Thirty. "This is an amazing story about the triumph of will, dedication, and duty. [It’s] about the real life heroes in the intelligence community who worked behind the scenes day and night on what was perhaps the toughest assignment of their lives. As such, it’s a story that needs to be told respectfully."

Zero Dark Thirty is due for release in North America on December 19th and features an ensemble cast that includes Joel Edgerton (Warrior), Jessica Chastain (The Help), Édgar Ramírez (Carlos), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Harold Perrineau (Lost), Nash Edgerton (I Am Number Four), Chris Pratt (Moneyball), Jason Clarke (Lawless), Jennifer Ehle (Contagion), Kyle Chandler (Super 8), Fares Fares (Safe House), Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2) and Josh Kelly (Transformers: Dark of the Moon).