The Unknown Man

The Stranger is a 2022 Australian psychological crime thriller film written and directed by Thomas M. Wright, starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris. Based on the non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer by Kate Kyriacou, and inspired by the investigation of the murder of Daniel Morcombe. The film tells the story of this investigation, a child abduction case, focusing on an undercover police officer (Edgerton) in a sting operation tasked with getting close to and forming a friendship with the prime suspect (Harris). The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2022, under the Un Certain Regard section. It had a limited theatrical release in Australia by Transmission Films on 6 October 2022 and streamed worldwide on Netflix on 19 October. The film received positive reviews from critics.