Director Shaka King has described the initial idea for the film as "The Departed (2006) inside the world of COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program)." He thought it was a clever way to "sort of Trojan-horse a Fred Hampton biopic and introduce the world, you know, a great segment of the world who is unaware of who he was, and is highly unaware of the Panthers' politics and ideology."
LaKeith Stanfield stated in an interview that he needed therapy after his portrayal of William O'Neal.
Dominique Fishback is also a poet and playwright. She penned the poem her character shared with Hampton.
With this film, Daniel Kaluuya becomes the first black British actor to receive multiple Academy Award nominations and, as of 2021, the only one to win the Oscar in an acting category.
Despite being campaigned in the lead actor category, LaKeith Stanfield received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, alongside his co-star Daniel Kaluuya. This is due to the fact that the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences allows each voting member to self-determine which category an actor's performance falls into, whether lead or supporting.