Final Luke Cage Trailer Pulls Out the Best Cameo Yet

THE WAVE OF EXCITEMENT for the next Netflix x Marvel television project, Luke Cage, is finally about to crest. After months of buildup, all episodes of the first season debut this Friday, September 30. There wasn’t much footage to go on before the summer, but it seems like every week there’s been something new to see, and now Netflix has released a final “Street Trailer” for the series. It focuses on the larger plot arc of the season, as Luke (Mike Colter) faces off against local politician Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) and her gangster cousin Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali, having a banner year with an Emmy nomination for House of Cards and roles in year-end awards contenders Kicks and Moonlight.)

Showrunner Cheo Coker said at San Diego Comic Con back in July that he thought of the season more like an album—he even named each episode after Gang Starr songs. The trailer that debuted at Comic Con used ODB’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” as the soundtrack. And this final trailer has the best evidence yet of the supreme influence of both Coker’s past work as a music journalist and hip hop on the world of Luke Cage. We won’t spoil the cameo (listen to the reference here) but it’s another phenomenal bit of comedy-as-punctuation, complete with Cage’s signature catchphrase, “Sweet Christmas.” Don’t make any weekend plans.