Matt Damon’s Crime Thriller With One Of The Best Casts Is Officially An HBO Max Sensation

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Matt Damon at the world premiere of The Odyssey

Published Oct 7, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Matt Damon's crime thriller has become a major hit on HBO Max, and it comes with one of the best casts the genre has ever put together. Damon is having a phenomenal year. After all, Damon's list of best movies saw the addition of a candidate for its top spot in 2026. That would be director Christopher Nolan's latest movie, The Odyssey, which has racked up $1.7 billion worldwide and counting. Damon gives life to the fantasy epic's main character, Odysseus, a role that should lead to several nominations for major awards for the actor, and perhaps a few wins.

That said, fantasy is not usually one of the top genres that comes to mind when one thinks of Damon's successful career. Among his most popular projects are multiple crime thrillers. Netflix's 2026 slate of movies added a new one in the form of The Rip, which saw Damon star alongside his best friend, Ben Affleck, and a star-studded cast that featured names like Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Kyle Chandler, and more. Now, Damon has found streaming success through an older crime thriller, The Departed, which also boasts a packed ensemble and is now trending on HBO Max in the United States.

Damon's The Departed Is Back As An HBO Max Hit

ChronoLogic

Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.

At the time of writing, The Departed is the 6th most-watched movie on HBO Max in the US, according to FlixPatrol. The Departed was one of the many movies that arrived on HBO Max nationwide on October 1. The streaming service also has quite the slate of films still to come throughout the month, including two Sydney Sweeney R-rated hits, The Housemaid and Anyone but You, Hugh Jackman's thriller The Death of Robin Hood, and more. Right now, Damon's The Departed has managed to leave behind movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scooby-Doo, The Shining, and Friday the 13th.

That list makes it clear that October has arrived and HBO Max subscribers are keen to enjoy horror movies this Halloween season. Alongside The Departed, DC's new Supergirl movie is the only other entry on HBO Max's Top 10 Movies list in the US not to be a horror film or connect with Halloween in some form. Leading the chart is Evil Dead Burn. The Departed was originally released in theaters on October 6, 2006, which makes for an exciting turn of events, as the day that the movie started to trend on HBO Max after recently arriving was its 20th anniversary.

The Film Remains A Rare Entry For Its Cast

Directed by Martin Scorsese, one of the best directors of all time, The Departed boasts a star-studded ensemble. Damon is joined by major actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Mark Wahlberg, and many more. The film is one of Scorsese's few remakes, coming after the original 2002 Hong Kong crime movie Infernal Affairs. Scorsese's only other remake was the psychological thriller Cape Fear. The new HBO Max hit The Departed also marked some unique pairings, being one of two films to star both DiCaprio and Wahlberg. The Departed's new streaming success continues Damon's 2026 streak.