Ridley Scott drops Jacob Elordi into a post-apocalyptic America in the first full look at his new thriller The Dog Stars.
Ridley Scott has built spectacles his whole career, so the new trailer for ‘The Dog Stars‘ is a quiet surprise. It sells his latest as a lean, brutal survival story rather than a sprawling one. The scale here is intimate. The dread is constant. And the emptiness of the world does most of the heavy lifting.
Jacob Elordi stars as Hig, a civilian pilot living on an abandoned airbase. His only company is his dog and a hardened ex-Marine named Bangley, played by Josh Brolin. A pandemic has hollowed out most of humanity, and what remains is scattered and dangerous. The two men survive by routine, suspicion, and force. It is a fragile arrangement, and the trailer makes clear it will not hold.
The story turns on a single signal. A stray radio message reaches Hig from somewhere out in the silence. Against every instinct, he sets off across open, unguarded country to find its source. He is searching for other survivors, but he is also searching for a reason to keep going. That second hunt is what gives the footage its ache.
The film is adapted from Peter Heller‘s acclaimed 2012 novel of the same name. Heller’s book is beloved for its interiority, and that is the real test facing the adaptation.
Scott has to externalize a story that lives largely inside one lonely man’s head. The trailer suggests he is doing it through landscape and absence rather than exposition.
The supporting bench is deep. Margaret Qualley appears as Cima, with Guy Pearce as Pops, alongside Allison Janney and Benedict Wong. That is a serious ensemble for a film this stripped down. It signals confidence in the material rather than a reliance on set pieces.
For Elordi, the role continues a deliberate climb. He has moved steadily from heartthrob casting toward heavier, filmmaker-driven work.
Watch the Trailer Below:
Anchoring a Ridley Scott survival drama is a real statement of intent. The trailer asks him to carry long stretches on his own, and it appears he can.
What stands out most is the restraint. The footage trades pyrotechnics for stillness. It leans on the loneliness of an emptied continent instead of the usual apocalyptic noise. For a director often associated with scale, that is the most intriguing promise of all.
‘The Dog Stars’ arrives in theaters on August 28, 2026.
