Josh O'Connor is joining the new Steven Spielberg joint

Few other rising stars have it as good as Josh O’Connor does right now. Beloved of Luca Guadagnino, pen pal of Alice Rohrwacher, member of the latest Rian Johnson ensemble, O’Connor has cultivated an IMDb page that surely inspires envy in his peers. And to add a feather to his cap, he’s been recruited for the next film from generational auteur Steven Spielberg, according to Deadline. 

Details are few about this upcoming “event film,” except that it’s a science fiction story from David Koepp (Jurassic Park). The movie also stars Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and Eve Hewson, and it’s currently set for release in May 2026. As Deadline points out, it’s the first Spielberg film in quite some time positioned as a summer tentpole; his biggest films of the last two decades have tended towards the awards-bait winter holidays slot. The last time Spielberg, as a director, released a true summer blockbuster was Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull in 2008. (Okay, The BFG got a July release in 2016, but do we have to count that one towards his summer record?) 

Anyway, this is all to say there are going to be major expectations around this movie—whether it’s the family-friendly type of Spielberg sci-fi like E.T. or something more mature like War Of The Worlds (or Minority Report or Close Encounters or…). Regardless, it’s a big get for O’Connor, who may be closing in on his first Oscar nomination if the Challengers campaign goes well. He’s flanked on all sides by Academy Award nominees, plus Hewson (daughter of Bono and star of Bad Sisters), a fellow star on the rise. In the meantime, O’Connor’s slate is full with Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Kelly Reichardt’s upcoming film The Mastermind, and Oliver Hermanus’ gay romance The History Of Sound alongside Paul Mescal.