If I Go Will They Miss Me Brings a Powerful Story of Family, Healing and Imagination to the Big Screen
A moving story about family, growing up and finding beauty in complicated circumstances is coming to theaters with If I Go Will They Miss Me.
Set in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, the film follows Big Ant, played by P-Valley and Lanterns star J. Alphonse Nicholson; Lozita, played by Peacemaker and The Color Purple star Danielle Brooks; and their 12-year-old son Lil Ant, played by Bodhi Dell.
At its heart, If I Go Will They Miss Me is a coming-of-age story centered on a young boy attempting to understand his family, his surroundings and himself.
Lil Ant views the world through a vivid imagination. In the film’s trailer, he describes himself and his parents through the figures of Pegasus, Poseidon and Medusa, bringing mythology into a very real story about childhood, family and the complicated relationships between parents and their children.
Big Ant and Lozita love their son, but they are also navigating challenges of their own. As Lozita acknowledges, they are still works in progress. That reality becomes an important part of Lil Ant’s journey as he looks to his parents for guidance while slowly beginning to recognize their humanity and imperfections.
The film doesn’t shy away from the pain within the family. Instead, it explores how love, hurt, hope and healing can exist within the same space.
For Lil Ant, growing up means learning that the adults responsible for shaping his world are still figuring out parts of their own lives. For his parents, raising their son means confronting the ways their choices, struggles and experiences affect the person he is becoming.
Written and directed by Walter Thompson-Hernández, If I Go Will They Miss Me uses the streets and skies of Watts as more than a backdrop. The neighborhood becomes part of Lil Ant’s world as reality and imagination intersect throughout his journey.
Nicholson and Brooks bring recognizable star power to the film, while Dell takes center stage as the young boy through whose perspective much of this emotional story unfolds.
Ultimately, If I Go Will They Miss Me asks questions that extend beyond one family: How do children understand their parents’ imperfections? How does a family heal while everyone involved is still growing? And what happens when a child’s imagination becomes a way of processing a world that isn’t always easy to understand?
If I Go Will They Miss Me opens in theaters nationwide September 18, 2026, following a special Los Angeles opening on September 11.
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