This Star-Studded Dunkin' Commercial Is Blowing My Mind
MOVE OVER, AL Pacino. There’s a new Dunkin' icon in town.
A new teaser for the coffee chain (formerly known as Dunkin' Donuts) aired during the 2025 Grammy Awards, with Ben Affleck reprising his role as the “DunKing.” The regal title was first bestowed during the 2024 Super Bowl, when Affleck and Matt Damon rocked orange tracksuits in front of a confused Jennifer Lopez. A lot has changed since last year.
In Dunkin’s teaser leading up to the 2025 Super Bowl, Ben is joined by his brother, fellow actor Casey Affleck, as they check on Succession alum Jeremy Strong in his dressing room. 'He’s preparing, he’s doing his research,' Casey points out, a nod that comedically plays on Strong’s reputation as an actor.
Strong soon emerges from a Dunkin vat covered in coffee beans, reminiscent of Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen in Dune.
'We’re doing a Dunkin' Donuts commercial right?' Strong asks. 'I’m just trying to find the character. I think I found a way in. You’re from Boston. I’m from Boston. Dunkin' is Boston. Boston is Paul Revere. One if by land, two if by sea. The Redcoats are coming.'
It’s hard to believe that Strong would appear in a Dunkin' ad, but sometimes, the strangest cameos are the best. While he has a very different energy than Ice Spice or Sabrina Carpenter, it’s also a fun concept to imagine what his sponsored coffee drink would look like, if he gets one – all while catering to different areas within a younger demographic.
As viewers will see more of Strong and the Affleck brothers during the Super Bowl, here’s what to know about what they’ve been up to before their Dunkin' collaboration.
How did Jeremy Strong become known as a method actor?
Strong gained popularity as Kendall Roy, the failson of media mogul Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox), on HBO’s hit series Succession. As the show ran from 2018 to 2023, he detailed how he uses method acting (immersing himself in each character) – making him stand out among his other co-stars. A notable 2021 profile in The New Yorker got incredibly detailed in breaking down Strong's history and process as an actor, and even caused a bit of controversy as the show aired the back end of its third season (co-star Alan Ruck reacted to the profile in Men's Health, saying 'It just makes him Jeremy. It doesn't make him anything but just Jeremy, who is a wonderful actor. Right?')
'He was wonderful to act with. I had no argument with Jeremy’s acting,' Cox said in The Guardian. 'He would be an even better actor if he just got rid of that, so there would be much more inclusiveness in what he did.'
Outside of the television show, Strong applies his method practice to his other roles as well. He received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at this year’s Oscars for his portrayal of Roy Cohn in The Apprentice.
'When I look at the kind of transformational work based on historical characters that I feel inspired by, from Ben Kingsley in Gandhi, or Phil Hoffman in Capote or what I witnessed Daniel Day-Lewis do in Lincoln, it’s about transcending impersonation and finding the essence in a deep, serious way,' Strong told Deadline about his approach in January 2025.
Last year, the actor starred in a Broadway production of An Enemy of the People. Strong was equally committed to that part too, as he was drenched in ice by his co-stars on the stage. It’s no surprise he won a Tony for Actor in a Leading Role.
What have Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck been working on?
Ben Affleck only appeared in one film in 2024, as he made a brief appearance in Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me… Now. However, he has been hard at work behind the scenes. According to his IMDb, he served as an executive producer on Kiss of the Spider Woman, a buzzy Sundance flick that stars Lopez, as well as Small Things Like These starring Cillian Murphy and The Instigators with Matt Damon. This April, Ben will star in The Accountant 2, and later this year he'll appear alongside Matt Damon in Netflix's RIP. It was also recently announced that he will be taking on the lead role (after Damon had to drop out due to the filming schedule for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey) in the new Netflix thriller Animals, which he will also be directing.
As for Casey, he starred alongside Damon in 2024’s The Instigators and also in a sci-fi thriller called Slingshot, though many likely know him best for his role in Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy and his Academy Award-winning turn in Manchester by the Sea. He was also part of the stacked cast for 2023’s Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, playing the chilling role of military intelligence officer Boris Pash.
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