The Russo Brothers' latest science-fiction adventure is fast approaching. Production company AGBO revealed in an Instagram post that filming has officially wrapped on the set of Netflix's new film The Electric State, and expressed gratitude towards the cast and crew for their hard work. In a unique fashion, the film will first premiere in theaters on January 3, 2024, before it heads to the streaming platform at a later, unannounced date.
Back in 2017, Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame) announced that they had obtained the rights to Simon Stålenhag's groundbreaking graphic novel The Electric State and were set to be producers on the project with Andy Muschietti (Stephen King's IT) as the director and fellow Marvel colleagues Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely as the screenwriters. However, when Universal Pictures later earned distribution rights in 2020, roles switched, and the Russo Brothers were tacked instead as directors while Muschietti slid to producer alongside Russell Ackerman (Cargo), Chris Castaldi (The Gray Man), Mike Lacrocca (Mosul), Barbara Muschietti (Mama), Patrick Newall (Extraction), Jake Aust (Cherry), and Geoff Haley (The Last Word). In addition, Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) came aboard to star in the film after she wrapped production on the fourth season of Duffer Brothers' Stranger Things. Later in June 2022, it was announced that Netflix would take over as distributor after Universal no longer wanted to give the film a theatrical release.
Starring in The Electric State is Millie Bobby Brown, alongside Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Stanley Tucci (The Silence), Jason Alexander (Faith Based), Woody Norman (C'mon C'mon), and Martin Klebba (Pirates of the Caribbean). Additional voices for characters in the movie are being provided by Brian Cox (Succession), Jenny Slate (Hotel Artemis), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Anthony Mackie (The Banker), and Billy Bob Thornton (Devil's Peak).
The Story of The Electric State
The Electric State is a science-fiction epic that takes place in 1997 and centers on an orphaned young girl (Millie Bobby Brown) who receives a robot from her missing brother. She decides to embark on a journey to find her brother, taking the robot with her. She traverses the retro-futuristic, apocalyptic American West, meeting a strange vagabond who also joins her on her journey. The aesthetic and imagery from Stålenhag's novel strongly evoke a vibe reminiscent of the Fallout game franchise, though with more of a Western feel rather than an Atomic Age one.
The landscapes are littered with the decaying remains of giant robots that once roamed everywhere, echoes of a past world that thrived on technology of a literal scale that wouldn't otherwise be possible. The sheer scale and fascination of Stålenhag's world could likely be what attracted the Russo Brothers to such a monumental project. With a near-cosmic production budget of nearly $200 million, the film is set to be yet another epic installment.