Alan Ritchson Fights an Unimaginable Threat in Netflix’s New ‘War Machine’ Sci-Fi Action Trailer

Alan Ritchson leads an elite squad of Army Rangers in a high-stakes survival mission

In the spirit of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1980s Predator comes a film where the hunter becomes the hunted in Patrick Hughes’ War Machine.

“Whatever that thing is – it’s hunting us.” 

The sci-fi action thriller from Netflix follows an Army combat engineer known only as “81” played by Alan Ritchson who currently stars as Jack Reacher in the Amazon Prime series Reacher, whose haunted by trauma from a past war attack that killed his brother (Jai Courtney) while serving together in Afghanistan finds himself in the final 24 hours of the world’s toughest military selection process that turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat.

Today, Netflix dropped its first official trailer for the War Machine movie, streaming worldwide starting March 6th, showing Ritchson and his fellow soldiers on the run after their startling discovery. “Whatever that thing is, it’s hunting us, and it won’t stop,” Ritchson says in the footage. “It’s not about us anymore. It’s warning everybody that thing is coming.”

Patrick Hughes (The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Expendables 3) directs from a script he co-wrote alongside James Beaufort, with filmmakers Greg McLean, Todd Lieberman, and Alexander Young, along with Rich Cook as producers and Valerie Bleth Sharp as executive producer.

During a recent interview with USAToday, Hughes highlighted Ritchson’s dedication, noting that he brings a unique physical presence to his high-octane action roles.

“never once flinched. Never once backed down. Never once complained,” Hughes said. He “has an undeniable, dominating physical presence – you feel him the moment he steps on-screen.”

Despite Hughes’ excitement over the actor’s dominant presence on screen, Ritchson himself is taking the emotional side of the story Hughes wrote very seriously. He said that he was inspired by his character’s relentless respect for honoring his lost loved one.

“I’ve got brothers. I’ve got sons. Doesn’t matter which direction I look at it, I understand well the lengths one would go to to protect and honor the ones I love,” Ritchson says. “There is no limit on this side of life to how much I’d suffer for my family if it gave them even a second of relief. That’s 81 all day.

“He’s somebody I would always want by my side in battle, even if only metaphorically speaking. It’s cool to know there’s a part of him inside of me, but I hope people realize there’s a part of 81 in all of us.”

While the film will be available only on the Netflix streaming platform, it could be the role that takes Ritchson beyond the small screen of “Reacher” and turns him into an action star for the future. The 43-year-old actor will again be teaming up with Hughes soon for another action movie for Prime Video based on Navy SEAL Mike Thornton’s life and set during the final days of the Vietnam War, scheduled to begin filming later this year. Given that it is an Amazon MGM Studios and Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions, it is highly likely to receive a theatrical release.

Little else is known about Hughes’ War Machine thriller beyond its general premise and brand-new trailer, but there are some major stars beyond Ritchson attached to the film, including Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Esai Morales, Daniel Weber, and Jai Courtney.

Courtney, who plays the brother of “81” in the film, explained in a recent interview with MovieWeb that he really enjoyed shooting the movie down under and that it’s “a survival thriller” that he feels harkens back to the old-fashioned blockbuster films we’ve all been sorely missing.

“it’s really a survival thriller. And, I mean, look, I’m as curious as you. I can’t wait to see what they did, but it was awesome to go down and shoot a film of that scale in Australia. And I think what Patrick Hughes is trying to do there, and bring those kinds of blockbuster-esque, you know, high-concept action films into the Aussie industry, is really, really cool.”

As the industry grapples with a shift toward home viewing, with Netflix leading the way, War Machine is the latest action thriller with a 2026 release date that would be great to see in a theater. The studio is heavily prioritizing its streaming platform over traditional theaters by aggressively shortening or eliminating the theatrical window to debut movies directly to subscribers, with Co-CEO Ted Sarandos labeling exclusive theatrical runs as “outdated.”

Judging from what I’ve seen in the trailer, I believe that Netflix is making a huge mistake by not bringing this action movie to the big screen, even for a limited run. The film looks to have massive potential, and with its mix of Predator, Alien, and Terminator vibes, featuring a squad of soldiers hunted by a high-tech “unimaginable threat,” it is exactly what moviegoers are looking for right now.

Yes, there’s a significant portion of the population that embraces the ability to watch films at home, but forgoing theatrical releases, especially in this case, may diminish its impact, missing that “shared, emotional” aspect of watching in a theater. I guess we can only wait to see how this all plays out.

Watch Alan Ritchson and Jai Courtney star in the trailer for Netflix’s action movie ‘War Machine.’ Below:

“During the final stage of U.S. Army Ranger selection, an elite team’s training exercise turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat.”