It is based on the true story of Mamie Till, an educator and activist who pursued justice after the murder of her 14-year-old son Emmett in August 1955.

Kevin Carroll, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, Jayme Lawson, Tosin Cole, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Goldberg also appear in supporting roles.

At a train station, the Tills meet with Mamie's uncle, Moses "Preacher" Wright, and Emmett's cousin, Wheeler Parker.

At the cash register, Emmett tells Carolyn Bryant that she looks like a movie star before showing her a photograph of a white girl in his wallet.

In the early hours of August 28, Carolyn's husband, Roy, and his half-brother, John William "J. W." Milam, arrive at the Wrights' house and force themselves inside.

On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Chinonye Chukwu would write and direct a feature film based on the life of Mamie Till-Mobley and her fight for justice after the lynching of her 14-year-son, Emmett Till.

Produced by Orion Pictures, the film uses 27 years' worth of research by Keith Beauchamp, whose efforts led to the reopening of Till's case by the United States Department of Justice in 2004.

[14] By the end of the year, Frankie Faison, Jayme Lawson, Tosin Cole, Kevin Carroll, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Haley Bennett were confirmed to star.

The website's consensus reads: "Till reframes an historically horrific murder within a mother's grief, brought heartwrenchingly to life by Danielle Deadwyler's tremendous performance.

"[32] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[28] Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film four complete stars, writing: "It's Deadwyler who holds our attention—our gaze and our hearts—and who does so with a masterful control.

He further praised Deadwyler's performance, writing she "is too good to let a movie turn Black trauma into cheesy Oscar bait.

Even when the film lets conventional biopic tropes mess with momentum, Deadwyler never loses her uncanny connection to the female warrior she's playing.

"[35] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times highlighted Chukwa's fixed focus on Mamie Till, to which she also praised Deadwyler for "delivering a quiet, centralizing performance that works contrapuntally with the story's heaviness, its profundity and violence.

"[36] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune also noted Chukwa's direction and Deadwyler's performance, but felt more screen time was needed to justify "Mamie's transformation from relatively apolitical Chicagoan to an urgently engaged citizen of a wider world.

These images depend for that vast spectrum of feeling upon Deadwyler's performance, one of the most radiantly, resonantly expressive to grace the screen this year.

"[38] Brian Lowry of CNN felt there's "a difficult-to-avoid aspect to the production that can't entirely escape a movie-of-the-week feel," but nevertheless wrote: "Anchored by Danielle Deadwyler's towering performance, it's a wrenching portrayal of reluctant heroism under the most horrific of parental circumstances.

"[40] Kate Erbland, reviewing on the website Indiewire, gave the film a mixed response: "While Deadwyler turns in a remarkable performance as Mamie, beautifully calibrating her love and anger in one riveting package, the rest of Till is prone to trope-ridden, predictable sequences that do little to advance her story or Emmett's legacy.