'Civil War' From Alex Garland: Release Date, Trailer, More

Writer/director Alex Garland turned heads in December when A24 dropped the trailer for his new movie Civil War. Given the divisive state of American politics where calls for an actual civil war have become increasingly common, Garland appears to have boldly imagined what such a conflict would like and what it would do the populace at large. The film seemingly centers around a president who refuses to relinquish power, and well, let’s not pretend we don’t know who that sounds like.

Here’s everything we know about the potentially incendiary Civil War:

Plot

The plot details for Civil War are being kept tightly under wraps. Even the official synopsis for the film is extremely vague:

A race to the White House in a near-future America balanced on the razor’s edge.

Not a whole lot to go on, right? Fortunately, A24 released a trailer that offers some clues as to what sparked the nationwide conflict. Most notably, Nick Offerman’s President of the United States is somehow on a third term, which suggests some sort of authoritarian power play that was alarming enough for Texas and California to join forces. It’s a concept that sparked a whole lot of laughs on social media given the states are polar opposites on the political spectrum. (Texas is notoriously conservative while California is overwhelmingly liberal.)

Of course, there could be other factors at play, but Garland is keeping things close to the chest. That said, it’s not like America hasn’t already witnessed a president make a violent power grab (January 6, anyone?), so it’ll be interesting to see whether Civil War gets awkwardly topical or goes in a completely different direction. Is Offerman a proxy for Trump, or something else entirely?

Cast

Civil War Alex Garland Movie Kirsten Dunst — A24

Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons and Nick Offerman. While their roles haven’t been confirmed — not even their character names are available — the first trailer revealed that Dunst plays a seasoned photojournalist with warzone experience, Plemons is a soldier, and Offerman plays the President of the United States whose third term appears to be at the crux of the film’s conflict. Moura and Spaeny’s roles are unspecified, but they seem to be random citizens just trying to survive the war breaking out on American soil.