Ben Affleck’s new thriller “Animals” began streaming on Netflix on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, after a theatrical run in select cities — but the 54-year-old director, co-writer and star has also been talking up a project that doesn’t exist yet: a future on-screen reunion with his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Garner.
That stated ambition is said to be creating fresh tension in Garner’s relationship with businessman John Miller, the chief executive of CaliGroup. Unnamed sources told Radar Online, in an exclusive report published the same day, that Miller is “enraged” by Affleck publicly discussing how much he would like to work with Garner again. The sources said Miller has long understood that Affleck will remain in Garner’s life because the former couple share three children, but that accepting a co-parenting arrangement is a different matter from hearing those comments. No one connected to the couple has made that claim on the record.
How the Casting Fell Into Place
The comments that set all of this in motion came in Affleck’s mid-September interview with Entertainment Weekly, where he walked through the long, winding development of “Animals” and the version of the film that never happened.
“I thought, ‘God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,'” Affleck told the magazine.
Garner, also 54, had been cast early on as Abigail Kimball, with Matt Damon — Affleck’s longtime friend and collaborator, who turned 56 on Oct. 8 — attached as her husband, Mark. Affleck then put the project on hold after learning that director Spike Lee was developing a kidnapping thriller of his own, “Highest 2 Lowest.” When the project was revived, Damon was no longer available because of scheduling conflicts with Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” and Affleck stepped into the lead role himself.
That raised the possibility of Affleck and Garner playing a married couple — an idea the two of them talked over and dropped. “We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage,” Garner said, as Affleck recounted the conversation. Garner exited the project, and Kerry Washington, 49, was cast as Abigail.
Affleck made clear he hasn’t shelved the idea of working with her. He said he would love to collaborate with Garner, calling her fabulous, describing the pair as good friends and saying he is deeply grateful to her. He added that he would still want to work with her in the future, but that the risk is handing an audience its own baggage and letting it work against the movie.
Inside the Reported Tension
Garner and Miller have dated on and off since 2018, a romance she has largely kept out of public view. The sources who spoke to Radar Online suggested the appeal of a reunion looks different depending on where you sit: Affleck, by their account, sees a straightforward creative decision involving an actress he admires and has worked with before, while for Miller, who has worked to build a relationship with Garner outside the shadow of her marriage to Affleck, a high-profile collaboration would inevitably put that history back in the spotlight. A Hollywood insider quoted in the report argued that every interview tied to such a film would circle back to the divorce, the children and whether the two still have feelings for each other.
Those sources also described Garner as someone who avoids conflict between the people who matter to her, and said any decision about a reunion project would involve conversations about what everyone is comfortable with.
A Friendship That Predates the Split
Affleck and Garner appeared together in “Pearl Harbor” in 2001 and “Daredevil” in 2003. They were married for 10 years before separating in 2015 and finalizing their divorce in 2018, and they share three children: Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14. Affleck’s divorce from Jennifer Lopez was finalized in 2025.
As for the film that actually got made, “Animals” was co-written by Affleck and Connor O. McIntyre and follows Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose life unravels overnight when his son is kidnapped. As Mark and Abigail scramble to raise ransom money, they are forced to work out whom they can trust while their own secrets surface. The cast also includes Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Ray Fisher, and Mexican stars Luis Gerardo Méndez and Adriana Paz. Netflix released the trailer and images on Tuesday, Sept. 15, offering a first look at Affleck directing himself for the first time since “Air” in 2023. The movie is streaming now — and Affleck has said he’s still hunting for the right project to do with Garner.