Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s biographical drama “Just Mercy” will mark Michael B. Jordan’s much-anticipated next appearance on the big screen after a banner 2018 that saw him star in two of the year’s biggest films: “Black Panther” and “Creed II.” A likely awards season contender for Warner Bros., “Just Mercy” will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) this month.

Based on the award-winning nonfiction bestseller by lawyer and social-justice activist Bryan Stevenson, the powerful and thought-provoking true story follows young lawyer Stevenson and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Stevenson passed over cushy, lucrative jobs to become an Alabama defense attorney, taking on cases of those wrongly condemned, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley. One of his first, and most incendiary cases is that of Walter McMillian, who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old white woman,...