Carlson Young has been a captivating presence on screen since her early acting days, with standout roles like the stylish and sharp-tongued Brooke Maddox in Scream: The TV Series. Over the years, she has transitioned seamlessly from in-demand actress to an accomplished filmmaker, showcasing her unique voice behind the camera.
Her directorial debut, The Blazing World, was an ambitious psychological horror fantasy that premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, a project I personally found unforgettable in both its surreal imagery and emotional intensity. Young continued to explore new creative territory with Upgraded, a romantic comedy for Amazon that went on to become one of the platform’s most-streamed films worldwide in 2024.
Now, Young turns her attention to the thriller genre with Trust, starring Sophie Turner, Katey Sagal, and Billy Campbell. Set to premiere in theaters on August 22, 2025, the film follows a Hollywood starlet forced into a deadly game of survival after a devastating betrayal. While Trust delivers all the tension and suspense you’d expect from a high-stakes thriller, Young infuses the story with deeply personal themes, reflecting on her own experiences as a young actress navigating an industry where innocence often meets predation.
Her director’s statement reveals how Trust became more than a contained survival story; it became a meditation on transformation, resilience, and the fear and fierce protectiveness tied to motherhood. Drawing inspiration from genre classics like Alien and Fargo, Young crafts a visual and emotional arc that takes her lead character from ingénue to “feral warrior.”
With Trust, Carlson Young continues to prove herself as a filmmaker unafraid to blend the personal with the cinematic, delivering stories that entertain while leaving a lasting emotional impact. If her past work is any indication, this latest film is set to be as stylish, gripping, and layered as the rest of her already impressive body of work.
Jessie Hobson