Rupert Friend Joins Sophie Thatcher in ‘Companion,’ Sci-Fi Thriller From Zach Cregger, BoulderLight, New Line 

Rupert Friend, currently on screens in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, has joined Sophie Thatcher in Companion, the sci-fi thriller from the team behind last year’s horror hit Barbarian.

The New Line feature begins production this month and has been filling out its call sheet at breakneck speed. Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri and Harvey Guillén all have signed on in recent weeks.  

Drew Hancock wrote the original script and is making his directorial debut with the feature, the many plot points of which are being kept hush-hush. It is, however, being described as self-contained, and Thatcher is set to play a character who is more than meets the eye.

Friend’s character information is being kept in the dark, but suffice it to say the actor won’t be living up to his last name.

Zach Cregger will produce the feature along with Raphael Margules and J.D. Lifshitz of BoulderLight Pictures. Vertigo’s Roy Lee also produces.

Friend appeared as the Grand Inquisitor in last year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series as well as Anderson’s anthology movie The French Dispatch. The filmmaker’s latest, Asteroid City, opened in limited release June 16 and was a bright spot at the box office in what was otherwise a rather dismal moviegoing weekend. The all-star indie movie goes wide June 23.

Friend recently wrapped production on Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for Netflix and the feature film Canary Black, both slated for a release in 2024. He will soon begin production on the upcoming biopic James and Lucia, in which he plays the title role of James Joyce. 

The actor, who can currently be seen on the Apple TV+ limited series High Desert opposite Patricia Arquette, is repped by Grandview and Hansen Jacobson.