Sydney Sweeney made a name for herself in grounded, if not provocative, streaming series. The release of HBO’s Euphoria and the debut of Season 1 of The White Lotus introduced her to major audiences, as she played characters that ignited a lot of debate among viewers. In quick succession, projects like Anyone But You highlighted her rom-com talents, which was followed by a superhero turn in Madame Web, leading to her major horror release Immaculate, but one glaring omission from her resume is sci-fi. Well, until now.
In March of last year, news emerged that Sweeney was set to lead a movie adaptation of the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam. After months of relative silence, it was revealed this past April that Gundam had finally entered production and production officially wrapped in July. Starring alongside Sweeney in the new movie are Noah Centineo, Michael Mando, Jason Isaacs, Shioli Kutsuna, and Jackson White.
If the title alone doesn’t immediately ignite excitement in audiences, star Centineo recently gave an update on Gundam to the Happy Sad Confused podcast. The actor detailed of the project:
“It’s a rom-com between her [character] and this guy. There’s romance in it. It’s a big action-romance space movie. It lives in the Universal Century canon of Gundam, for those who know. I don’t know how much I can tell you about what characters are in it, if they are, if they’re not. But I will say that you can compare it to a little bit of, like, a non-Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet in space. That’s so far the aim. But listen, we just wrapped it a week and a half ago.”
Regardless of how familiar you might be with the source material, this latest update will likely excite you, if only for the reason that such a beloved property is getting a live-action treatment. Netflix described the project, “As shifting allegiances and a growing threat set them on a collision course for one another, two opposing factions are pulled into a high-stakes race across the stars that could define the fate of humanity.”
While Gundam might mark Sweeney’s biggest venture into the sci-fi realm, it also sounds as though it will be the first of many. Another project of hers that has been rumored for years is a new take on Barbarella, which failed to ever earn substantial development momentum.
Early talks of the project go back as far as 2022, though the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes understandably stagnated the project. Even she addressed the struggles the project faced in 2025, revealing to Empire Magazine, “I can’t say too much, but it’s really going to come together in a very, very fun and big way. It’s a long process. I don’t think people realize how long some things can take, but it’s gonna be worth the wait…” In regard to the project being on her bucket list, she shared, “Yes, it is! That’s what I’m saying! My thirties, I’ve really got to step it up!”
The Gundam movie is set to be released sometime in 2027.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
