Joseph Quinn, Stranger Things’s dearly departed, long-haired rocker Eddie Munson. Smoldering Golden Globe nominee and May December star Charles Melton. The Bear’s diligent chef Will Poulter. Shōgun’s rugged Cosmo Jarvis. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’s resident dreamboat Noah Centineo. Heartstopper’s loveable Kit Connor. Daisy Edgar-Jones’s wholesome love interest from Where the Crawdads Sing, Taylor John Smith. Finn Bennett, the baby-faced cop and foil to Jodie Foster in True Detective: Night Country. Teen Wolf’s Henrique Zaga. Reservation Dogs’s D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. Adain Bradley, who played Harper’s hot brother in Industry Season 2. They all have one thing in common: They’re in the jaw-dropping cast of Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s forthcoming war film. When I first read the list—a literal roll call of current internet boyfriends—I assumed it was fan casting rather than actual, real news. But no, I was stunned to discover, it is real—and, as a result, anticipation for the film is sky-high.
Titled Warfare, the A24 release will tell the story of a Navy Seal team in mid-’00s Iraq whose latest mission goes terribly wrong. Although the exact roles this formidable group of actors will play remain under wraps, it’s been confirmed via British GQ that Poulter will take the lead as their captain, while Woon-A-Tai, per Deadline, will play Mendoza himself. Garland’s co-writer and co-director for Warfare served as a member of Seal Team 5 for over 16 years, and this is the pair’s second collaboration, with Mendoza having acted as the military advisor for Garland’s last hit, the explosive Civil War. (Garland had previously said that he’d be taking a step back from directing for the foreseeable future, but clarified that his participation in this project was more about supporting Mendoza than furthering his own vision.)
According to a recent interview Quinn gave to GQ, this set of rising stars were all put “through the wringer” recently while filming at a 19th-century manor house 50 miles north of London, waking up at 6 a.m. every day to head to a muddy boot camp where they learned to “fire weapons, with heavy things, heavy things.”
As with all of Garland’s work, further details are still shrouded in mystery, but with production now complete, expect more morsels to emerge in the coming weeks and months. Given the filmmaking team’s clear commitment to training and ensuring all the action looks authentic, Garland’s impressive track record with the likes of Civil War and Annihilation, and the immense star power that’ll be on display, we can hardly wait.