For the past couple of decades, Tom Cruise has primarily stayed in the realm of action movies, with the Mission: Impossible franchise and the uber-successful Top Gun: Maverick taking up most of his time. However, that’ll soon change when the Hollywood icon leads Digger, directed by one of Hollywood's most interesting filmmakers, Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
More and more details are finally emerging for this secretive movie, and we finally got a full trailer showing us way more than anything we've seen before. It looks pretty awesome, and it's going to be so fun to see Tom Cruise as this wild character on the 2026 movie schedule. Here's what we know so far, including the new trailer.
What Is The Digger Release Date?
2026 is shaping up to be one of the biggest movie years in quite a while, and before the year comes to an end, we’ll get to see what Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Cruise have cooking, as the Digger release date has been set for October 2, 2026.
I have little doubt that Iñárritu will likely be in the discussion, at least, for another Best Director Oscar nomination. He's going to have some stiff competition, as he is one of many Oscar-nominated (and winning) directors with big movies coming out this year, including Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Denis Villeneuve.
The Digger Trailer
We've been waiting forever for the Digger trailer, and it finally arrived in July, and it's even wilder than I expected. I knew this would be a wacky movie (in the best way), but even I was surprised just how out there it is. We also get our first look at the other actors in the movie, including a lot of John Goodman, whose scenes are giving serious Dr Strangelove vibes, Sandra Hüller, who can be so funny in her dry, German way, and Riz Ahmed, who may just steal the show.
My anticipation is definitely growing after this bonkers trailer.
The Digger Cast
As Tom Cruise has shown time and time again, he is more than capable of carrying a movie on his own. However, he won’t have to do all the heavy lifting here, as Alejandro G. Iñárrituhas put together an absolutely incredible group of actors that includes Oscar winners, Emmy winners, and even a member of the Saturday Night Live Five-Timers Club. It's especially fun that we'll get to see John Goodman play the President of the United States again, after he briefly did on The West Wing a quarter-century ago (albeit with a very different style here).
Here’s everyone who’s joining the Digger cast:
- Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell
- Sandra Hüller
- John Goodman as the President of the United States
- Michael Stuhlbarg
- Jesse Plemons
- Sophie Wilde
- Riz Ahmed as an assistant to the President
- Emma D'Arcy
- Robert John Burke
- Burn Gorman
What Is Digger About?
Though a lot of specifics are being kept under wraps at the moment, Deadline did share a simple synopsis for Digger back in August 2024. The movie, which was untitled at the time of the report, will center on Digger Rockwell, the most powerful man in the world, as he embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior. From the trailer, it seems to involve nukes, Antarctica, and a lot of stress for those in charge.
What makes this whole concept even more interesting is the fact that the humanity-killing disaster he is trying to prevent is one of his own making. We’ve seen Cruise save the world countless times over the years, be it from aliens, rogue nations, mummies, and diabolical madmen, but this sounds far more bizarre than anything that he’s done in a very long time.
Iñárritu Has Described The Movie As A 'Brutal, Wild Comedy of Catastrophic Proportions'
Though Iñárritu and Cruise have both created some undeniably comedic moments throughout their respective careers, neither is really known for comedy. That said, we will get to see how the two handle dark comedy when Digger opens next fall. During a 25th anniversary celebration of Iñárritu’s 2000 drama, Amores Perros, at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (via The Hollywood Reporter), the man behind Birdman and The Revenant had this to say when teasing the movie:
All I can say is it is a brutal, wild comedy of catastrophic proportions. It’s insane. It’s scary and funny and beautiful. I know comedy is not what people expect from me, or Tom, and making this film was terrifying for me.
During the same event, Deadline asked Iñárritu about working with Cruise and how that experience went. In his answer, the director offered some more details about the movie:
He gives himself. He has an incredible sense of passion. It’s a brutal comedy. It’s a wild comedy of human nature. It’s scary and funny. It’s beautiful. I will start editing next week.
I didn't think we'd be getting a Les Grossman-type performance out of Cruise here, but it actually looks like we will be, and I'm all in on that. It's so great when Cruise steps out of the action hero cape he's so often in, so this could be something special.
