First Images of the Russo Bros. New Sci-Fi Movie ‘The Electric State’

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The first pictures from new sci-fi movie ‘The Electric State’ have landed.
Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt star.
Joe and Anthony Russo are the directors.

Since wrapping up their successful run of movies at Marvel, capped with the huge blockbuster ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ directing/sibling duo Joe and Anthony Russo have seen more mixed fortunes in terms of their filmmaking.

While they set up their own production company, their actual movies have been hit and miss –– the likes of ‘Cherry’ and ‘The Gray Man’ haven’t seen the same pop cultural impact as their time with Iron Man and the rest of the Marvel gang.

(L to R) Joe Russo (Director), Anthony Russo (Director) and Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle on the set of 'The Electric State'. Photo: Paul Abell, ©2024 Netflix, Inc.

Now, before they prepare to head back to the MCU for more ‘Avengers’ action, the pair have an ambitious new science fiction film on the way.

Adapted from Simon Stålenhag’s book by their regular collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who found the source material and wrote a spec script), ‘The Electric State’ finds man and machine typically having trouble co-existing, with Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt starring in the story of a young woman looking for her missing brother.

The first pictures from the new movie are now online.

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In a retro-futuristic past, orphaned teenager Michelle traverses the American West with an eccentric drifter and a sweet but mysterious robot in search of her younger… Read the Plot

What’s the story of ‘The Electric State’?

Chris Pratt in 'The Electric State'. Photo: Paul Abell, ©2024 Netflix, Inc.

The new movie is set in an alternate, retro-futuristic version of the 1990s. Brown plays Michelle, an orphaned teenager navigating life in a society where sentient robots resembling cartoons and mascots, who once served peacefully among humans, now live in exile following a failed uprising.

Everything Michelle thinks she knows about the world is upended one night when she’s visited by Cosmo, a sweet, mysterious robot who appears to be controlled by Christopher — Michelle’s genius younger brother whom she thought was dead.

(L to R) Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) , Keats (Chris Pratt) and Dr. Amherst (Ke Huy Quan) in 'The Electric State'. Photo: Paul Abell, ©2024 Netflix, Inc.

Determined to find the beloved sibling she thought she had lost, Michelle sets out across the American southwest with Cosmo, and soon finds herself reluctantly joining forces with Keats (Pratt), a low-rent smuggler, and his wisecracking robot sidekick, Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie).

As they venture into the Exclusion Zone, a walled-off corner in the desert where robots now exist on their own, Keats and Michelle find a strange, colorful group of new animatronic allies — and begin to learn that the forces behind Christopher’s disappearance are more sinister than they ever expected.

Who else stars in ‘The Electric State’?

(L to R) Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci in ‘The Electric State’. Photo: Netflix.

Besides Brown, Pratt and Mackie, the cast includes Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Norman, Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci.

And that’s just the people making live-action appearances on screen. We’ll also hear the likes of Woody Harrelson, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Hank Azaria, Colman Domingo and Alan Tudyk lending their voices to mechanized characters.

‘The Electric State’: Millie Bobby Brown talks

Millie Bobby Brown in 'The Electric State'. Photo: Paul Abell, ©2024 Netflix, Inc.

Brown discussed her character with Vanity Fair in a recent article:

“The note that I would always get is, she’s still human. She’s rebellious and yes, she doesn’t want to follow the rules and she’s incredibly hurt because she’s dealing with a lot of grief. But she’s not invincible. We’re technically both the same age, so I feel like it was just: What are moments that I wouldn’t show my weakness? What are moments that I would? And I just played with that. I really want her to show that she’s made of stone because I want that to be the perception of who she is. But actually, as you get to know her, she softens and she warms up. And I tried to implement as much of my own experiences into her as possible.”

When will ‘The Electric State’ be on our screens?

(L to R) Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt in 'The Electric State'. Photo: Paul Abell, ©2024 Netflix, Inc.

Netflix has yet to confirm when the movie will be arriving, beyond setting it for a 2025 release. Given the scale of this thing, we’d imagine the company will at least grant it a limited theatrical run ahead of it arriving on users’ accounts.