Netflix’s new film, Spiderhead, has nothing to do with spiders. It does, however, have a lot to do with “heads” and the heads involved in it are truly impressive. It’s from director Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy and Top Gun Maverick), writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland) and stars Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, along with Miles Teller (Fantastic Four) and Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country).
That’s quite a resume before you’ve even seen a trailer, which you can watch below of course. Spiderhead is coming to Netflix June 17, and you can see what the minds behind Tron, Deadpool, Thor and Lovecraft Country are cooking up.
So that trailer is a lot, yes? Let’s break it down. Spiderhead is based on a short story by George Saunders from The New Yorker called “Welcome to Spiderhead.” It’s about a prison where inmates are allowed to roam freely as long as they let the people in charge experiment on them with drugs. Drugs that can make you very happy or fall in love in the best cases, or do much worse things in other cases. And as you can see in the trailer, the film goes to all those places and more. Hemsworth stars as the head of the facility while Teller and Smollet are among the inmates.
In addition to starring, Hemsworth is also a producer on the film, which makes his performance even more interesting. While audiences know him mostly from his heroic roles in Thor and Extraction, this character – quite obviously – has shady intentions. What, exactly, is he getting at with these drugs? Is he actually trying to do good or is there something more sinister happening? You’ll have to watch Spiderhead to find out.
These days, Netflix releases a ton of movies but Spiderhead just seems to stand out. In comparison to the others, it simply has massive names in front of, and behind, the camera. Expectations couldn’t be higher. We’ll find out June 17.
Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.