If there’s one thing that can be said of the new season of True Detective, it’s that the absence of director Cary Fukunaga — who shepherded the show’s acclaimed first season — is being keenly felt this go-round. The reason for Fukunaga’s absence? His new feature film project Beasts of No Nation.

Written and directed by Fukunaga and starring Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther, Pacific Rim), Beasts of No Nation is based on Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala’s acclaimed novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Agu (Abraham Attah), a young boy torn away from his family and forced to fight in the civil war as a child soldier. Elba plays the Commandant, a brutal warlord who takes in Agu and instructs him in the ways of war.

Watch the harrowing Beasts of No Nation teaser trailer below:

Beasts of No Nation will screen at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in September and debut Friday, October 16, 2015 on Netflix.