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Sydney Sweeney is heading to Netflix.
Sweeney's career has skyrocketed in recent years after initially appearing in small roles for series such as The Handmaid's Tale and Sharp Objects. She found worldwide fame during her time as Cassie Howard on the controversial HBO series Euphoria before becoming a leading lady in blockbuster movies such as The Housemaid and Anyone But You, and is the talk of the town with Netflix handling her next big project.
A new report by What's on Netflix seemingly confirms that the live-action adaptation of Gundam has officially wrapped filming, which began in April. The upcoming movie is coming from director and screenwriter Jim Mickle (known for Sweet Tooth) and will star Sweeney alongside Noah Centineo. The news of Netflix's production is welcome after it's taken five years since the streaming giant bought the rights to the franchise in 2021.
The Gundam franchise is a huge pillar of Japanese sci-fi and global pop culture, known for putting the "real robot" mecha genre on the map. It has grown into a $20 billion global media and merchandising phenomenon since its creation, which began in 1979 and was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate for Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks). The TV series titled Mobile Suit Gundam was condensed into a compilation movie trilogy and since then has expanded with even more releases.
Netflix's upcoming movie will be the first big-budget live-action adaptation of the Gundam franchise. It is said to tell a standalone story with Sweeney and Centineo portraying star-crossed, rival mech pilots who are caught in the middle of a high-stakes interplanetary war between Earth and its former colonies. Musician Benson Boone and Outer Banks' Drew Starkey were reportedly in talks to star alongside Sweeney, with Jason Clarke (known for Oppenheimer) joining the cast briefly but leaving for reasons unknown.
"As shifting allegiances and a growing threat set them on a collision course for one another, they’re pulled into a high-stakes race across the stars that could define the fate of humanity. With awe-inspiring battles, intimate human emotion, and an epic cinematic scale, this is Gundam like it’s been seen before."
Mickle previously spoke about the upcoming space opera adaptation at the Gundam conference and teased, "Our Gundam is a big story; it’s about conflict and war, but in the end it’s a very human story. [We’re] building amazing sets, featuring some of the most iconic ships and mobile suits from the series — along with some new additions that we’re very excited to introduce to you."
At the time of writing, Gundam does not have an official release date, but it is expected to arrive sometime in 2027.
