The official trailer has arrived for The Uprising, a muddy, blood-soaked historical action-drama that sends Andrew Garfield into medieval England and places filmmaker Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Lost Bus) behind a revolt against the Crown. Watch the trailer above and read on for what to know.
The Uprising Has Andrew Garfield Turning Grief into Revolution
Garfield plays Ploughman, a farmer still mourning the deaths of his wife and children from the bubonic plague seven years earlier. “I am no soldier. I am no priest. I’m just a farmer,” he says in the trailer. “The land is broken. We are forced to work beyond what our souls can take.”
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The world around him is falling apart. Villagers are being worked beyond exhaustion, families are threatened with taxes they cannot afford and the Crown’s men appear perfectly willing to use violence to maintain control. Ploughman does not set out to become a revolutionary, but one explosive confrontation places him at the centre of a movement that quickly spreads beyond his village.
What begins as a grounded portrait of grief and oppression soon expands into full-scale medieval warfare. Fires are lit, horses charge through crowds and thousands of commoners march towards London. “It is time to set the world on fire,” Ploughman declares. “There will be no peace until we are free.”
The True Revolt That Inspired The Uprising
The film is based on the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, which saw farmers, priests, labourers and other working people rise against oppressive taxes and the political establishment surrounding King Richard II. Groups from across England converged on London, turning widespread economic frustration into one of the most significant popular rebellions in the country’s history.
Greengrass, who also wrote the screenplay, told People that the idea came to him during the pandemic while he was searching for a story about his home country. What captured his attention was the revolt’s universality and its shift away from history being shaped solely by royalty and the powerful.
“What was interesting to me about its universality was that it was sort of the first moment in our history when, if you like, the common person, the common man and woman took center stage and history was no longer going to be about kings and queens and the rich and powerful,” Greengrass explained. “It was going to be about what ordinary folk wanted and their grievances and their dreams and hopes.”
The filmmaker also recognised a clear connection to the modern world. While stressing that he was not making a party-political statement, Greengrass said the revolt reflected a widespread sense of anger, disenfranchisement and discontent that remains evident across societies today.
Why Andrew Garfield Was Chosen to Lead the Rebellion
Garfield’s character may become the face of an enormous movement, but Greengrass wanted Ploughman’s heroism to remain rooted in his vulnerability. The director said Garfield stood out because he could convincingly combine physical strength, emotional pain and the fundamental ordinariness of a farmer unexpectedly pulled into history.
Greengrass likened Garfield’s qualities to those of Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Hanks, explaining that each actor can ground heroism in a character’s ordinariness. The trailer leans into that balance, presenting Ploughman as frightened and grief-stricken even as he becomes capable of ferocious violence.
The Cast and Creatives
Joining Garfield is an impressive ensemble that includes Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Cosmo Jarvis, Thomasin McKenzie, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman, Katherine Waterston and Sky Yang.
Greengrass directs from his own screenplay and produces alongside Jason Blum, Gregory Goodman, Joanna Kaye, Joe Neurauter and Lars Sylvest. The creative team includes composer Volker Bertelmann (All Quiet on the Western Front), cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth (The Lost Bus) and editor William Goldenberg (Argo).
When Will The Uprising Be in Cinemas?
The Uprising will be released in U.S. cinemas on September 11 and Australian cinemas on October 22, 2026.
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