John Boyega was originally set to star. However, he left the project midway through filming in 2021, forcing producers to halt production, find a new lead actor, and re-shoot all his scenes.
The movie and its setting have much similarity with real life incidents from Sulphur, Louisiana. This small town off I10 in south Louisiana is famous for conducting seizures of personal assets and cash. Some cases were profiled on news magazine TV shows and investigative journalist stories. The proceeds from these seizures were split by law between the local police, the parish government and the DR's office.
The lightning bolt tattoo on Terry Richmond's forearm is from the cover of the Washington DC punk band Bad Brain's 1982 debut album. The cover depicts a large, stylized lightning bolt destroying the Capitol Building.
When director Jeremy Saulnier first interviewed Aaron Pierre over Zoom, he knew within 90 seconds that he had found his new leading man.
In its first week of release on Netflix, the film received over 31 million views.