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War Machine's sequel just got an official title.
Released on Netflix earlier this year, the sci-fi action thriller stars Alan Ritchson as a recruit in a special ops bootcamp who must face off against a giant killer robot. The film was a major viewership success, and it was subsequently confirmed that War Machine 2 with Ritchson is in the works.
Director Patrick Hughes, who is returning for the sequel, now takes to Instagram to confirm that the follow-up will be called War Machines. The post, which includes an image showing that War Machine was Netflix's most-watched movie of the first half of 2026 with 147 million views, features the title page for the sequel's script, with a toy war machine looming over it. Check it out below:
Making the title plural is taking a page out of the Alien (1979) playbook. After Ridley Scott's original became a success, James Cameron released Aliens (1986), a sequel that upped the number of the titular monsters.
This approach tracks with the War Machine ending. After successfully defeating one of the titular beasts, Ritchson's character, who is known only as 81, is met with the realization that thousands of the alien robots are landing all across the globe.
No release date for War Machines has been shared just yet, but a completed script from Hughes and James Beaufort is a promising sign that audiences won't have to wait too long for 81's return. If filming gets underway next year, for example, the sequel could hit Netflix at some point in 2028.
Beyond Ritchson, Hughes, and Beaufort, it's not clear yet who might return for War Machines. The first film saw most of 81's companions die, but Esai Morales and Dennis Quaid could potentially return as Torres and Sheridan, respectively.
War Machine may have been a viewership juggernaut, but reviews were somewhat soft. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a lukewarm 66% critics' score, with the Popcornmeter just below that at 64%.
ScreenRant's own War Machine review from Alex Harrison was right in line with these scores at six out of 10. Though, for Harrison, the film serves as a fun riff on Predator (1987), it ultimately loses too much momentum towards its ending to be in the same league as the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic. Harrison writes:
From there, however, the movie can't maintain that same standard. It's much better at wringing drama from the wounded troops fighting the mountain terrain than the killer robot. Not only are the VFX seams more exposed when the machine is in motion, nipping at the viewer's immersion, but the way it's deployed yearns for the creativity of the recent Predator films. The initial idea is a good one, but the script is unable to supply more than build on it in a satisfactory way.
Though War Machine was a hit, there is clearly some room for improvement with the sequel. With more of the titular robots set to be featured in the second movie, Hughes is clearly about to up the ante in a big way.
