Paul Greengrass has built a career making history feel like it’s happening to you right now United 93, Captain Phillips, 22 July, all shot with that same restless, handheld urgency that makes a true story feel like breaking news. Now he’s turning that same lens on the 14th century, and the result is one of 2026’s most unusual historical dramas: a peasant rebellion shot like a war film, and a king’s fall shot as if it’s still happening.
What Is The Uprising About?
The Uprising film is a story of the ordinary farmer, radicalized by years of crushing taxation and government overreach, who becomes the reluctant leader of a rebellion that marches straight toward London and the boy king ruling over it. It’s a story about people like you and me, who are pushed beyond the breaking point. And what happens when that anger finally organizes itself into something powerful enough to shake an entire kingdom. The emotional heart of the film is summed up nicely in its own trailer: There will be no peace until they are free.
The Historic Time Period and Real Event Behind The Uprising Movie
Set in England in 1381, during the reign of the teenage King Richard II, The Uprising dramatizes an actual historical event, the English Peasants’ Revolt, one of the most significant uprisings in the country’s history. A real, large scale rebellion against the English crown that really happened. Centuries before it went into legend. It was sparked by a punishing poll tax , worsening economic conditions after the Black Death , and growing political unrest . Thousands of common people marched on London demanding change. The film was even briefly marketed in the U.S. as The Uprising: The Rise of Robin Hood, directly connecting this real uprising with the folklore that’s long been credited with helping inspire.
What Sets It Apart in Its Genre
Historically epic tales of medieval rebellion are usually Braveheart or Gladiator-like: sweeping, composed, larger than life. The Uprising is intentionally different from that tradition. Greengrass brings his shaky, “you-are-there” documentary realism, the hallmark of his modern thrillers, to a story set 600 years ago, making a 14th century revolt feel more like war-correspondent footage than a costume drama. Rarely do you get this combination, the intimacy and chaos of Greengrass’s signature style, wrapped up in one of the earliest uprisings ever documented against a ruling monarchy.
Who Will Enjoy The Uprising Movie
This is aimed at fans of grounded historical dramas and stories of political upheaval more than viewers looking for pure medieval spectacle, anyone who loved the tension of United 93 or Captain Phillips will recognize the same DNA here, just transplanted into armor and mud. It should also appeal greatly to history buffs interested in the real events behind the Robin Hood myth, and for anyone interested in stories about ordinary people forced into extraordinary resistance.
The Actors and Crew
Andrew Garfield stars as the reluctant farmer who becomes the leader of the rebellion, joined by Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Cosmo Jarvis, Thomasin McKenzie, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman, Katherine Waterston and Stanley Townsend. Interestingly, Matthew McConaughey was reportedly in early talks for the lead role before Garfield was eventually cast.
The Uprising Movie Budget
Blumhouse or Focus Features have not confirmed an official budget. Publicly, Blumhouse founder Jason Blum has said his company’s normal solo-financing cap is around $5 million, and he partners with outside production companies for anything bigger and he’s reported around The Uprising describes its scope as a deliberate “mid-scale ambition,” a big shift from the bigger studio budgets Greengrass has worked on in the past.
Filming Locations and Production Details
Although The Uprising is set in England, it wasn’t filmed there. Principal photography commenced in September 2025 in the Franconian region of Bavaria and the city of Nuremberg, Germany, as well as at the newly built Penzing Studios outside of Munich. The film is written, produced and directed by Paul Greengrass. Jason Blum produces through Blumhouse, alongside Gregory Goodman, Joanna Kaye, Lars Sylvest and Joe Neurauter. The film was shot by cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth (A Haunting in Venice), edited by Oscar-winner William Goldenberg and scored by Oscar-winner Volker Bertelmann (All Quiet on the Western Front).
Release Status
The Uprising will have a running time of 127 minutes and will be released by Focus Features on September 11, 2026 in the U.S. and Entertainment Film Distributors on October 9, 2026 in the UK. Its festival pedigree doesn’t make a Venice or Telluride premiere before a wide release a surprise.
Other Interesting Facts about The Uprising Movie
This film has a long and strange trip to the screen. First announced in May 2022 as The Hood, it originally had Benedict Cumberbatch attached to star. The project underwent a lot of casting and creative shifts over the next three years before Garfield was finally cast in May 2025, so the version hitting theaters this September is the result of a really long and twisty development process.
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Conclusion
The Uprising is emerging as one of the year’s more distinctive historical dramas, a true story that’s rarely dramatized on screen, shot with a raw, immediate intensity that medieval epics almost never try. It’s Greengrass’s unmistakable direction, Andrew Garfield anchoring the emotional center of a true rebellion, and a real historical event finally getting the cinematic treatment it’s long deserved that makes this a film built to make six-hundred-year-old history feel like it’s happening right before your eyes. If you’re a fan of history-based dramas that feel grounded, urgent and actually true, The Uprising looks like just the kind of movie worth putting on your calendar.
