Samuel L. Jackson Joins Steven Spielberg’s Next Movie

Jackson joins a cast that already includes Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Jenna Ortega and Eve Hewson, working from a David Koepp script.

(Left) Samuel L. Jackson at the red carpet premiere of Marvel Studios' 'Secret Invasion.' (Right) Steven Spielberg arrives on the red carpet at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Trae Patton/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Samuel L. Jackson is the latest addition to Steven Spielberg’s next film.
Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Jenna Ortega and Eve Hewson are all reportedly aboard.
The movie is being kept mostly under wraps but will shoot in the UK.

Samuel L. Jackson is famously known as one of the actors with a hefty past credits list, and he’s certainly not short of job offers.

The latest, according to The Hollywood Reporter comes from an old friend and director he’s worked with before –– ‘Jurassic Park’s Steven Spielberg.

Jurassic Park

"An adventure 65 million years in the making."

PG-132 hr 7 minJun 11th, 1993

Watch Jurassic Park Online

With the legendary director busy building the cast for his latest, mysterious movie (more on that below), he’s now adding Jackson to the list.

What’s the story of Steven Spielberg’s new film?

(L to R) Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg arrive on the red carpet at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Trae Patton/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

That’s the one thing that has really been kept quiet about the director’s latest project. While it has been talked about as an “event movie” –– as opposed to his last two movies, ‘The Fabelmans’ and ‘West Side Story’, which verged more towards awards season prestige than summer blockbuster territory, this one will be squarely more in the wheelhouse of movies such as the ‘Indiana Jones’ movies and ‘Jurassic Park.’

Or perhaps we should say ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ or ‘War of the Worlds’ as the new film is reportedly once more focused on alien (or at least UFO) interaction. Nothing on that front has been confirmed, though, and Spielberg has the clout to keep it that way for now.

Still, ‘Jurassic Park’ is also a touchstone, since writer David Koepp, who wrote the first two outings of the dino-franchise (and recently returned to pen ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ which director Gareth Edwards shot), crafted the script for the new movie based on an idea from Spielberg.

Who else is in Spielberg’s new movie?

Glen Powell stars in 'Hit Man'. Photo: Netflix.

As with Christopher Nolan’s latest film, Steven Spielberg is the sort of director who can lock down pretty much any talent that he requires, short of them being unavailable.

Jackson is just the newest person mentioned; the film already features the likes of Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, Emma Mackey, Eve Hewson, Emily Blunt, Colman Domingo and Colin Firth.

As with everything to do with the movie, we don’t know what roles that ensemble will be taking, as the only concrete information appears to be a plan to shoot in the tax-break friendly studio spaces of the UK next spring.

When will Spielberg’s latest be in theaters?

Universal and Amblin Entertainment have handed the movie a May 15th, 2026, release date, setting it squarely in the summer blockbuster territory that Spielberg himself helped establish way back in the 1970s with the likes of ‘Jaws.’

Steven Spielberg arrives on the red carpet of the 96th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024. Credit/Provider: Nick Agro / ©A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.