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'Spiderhead': Chris Hemsworth goes full mad scientist in first trailer for Netflix sci-fi thriller
Netflix's new sci-fi thriller Spiderhead will show us a different side of Chris Hemsworth.
Ever since Chris Hemsworth gave that little wink to his mother in the opening minutes of Thor, we've known there's a very mischievous side to the action star, even if he doesn't always get to show it. We've seen him work comedically, we've seen him work dramatically, we've even seen him play a charismatic cult leader in Bad Times at the El Royale, but now it looks like we're about to see yet another side of Chris Hemsworth.
The new Netflix film Spiderhead, written by Deadpool duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski, seems primed to let Hemsworth go into full-on mad scientist mode with a twisty tale of a high-class prison, experimental drugs, and some very unpredictable side effects. Netflix dropped the first trailer for the film on Tuesday, and it looks like prime real estate for Hemsworth to really show some range as an upbeat guy with a sinister underpinning.
Adapted from George Saunders' short story "Escape from Spiderhead," the film stars Hemsworth as Steve Abnesti, a brilliant prison administrator who runs Spiderhead, a prison with no cells and no bars where the prisoners are granted commuted sentences if they agree to participate in various experimental drug trials. To make this easier, they've all got a device implanted in their lower backs that allows Abnesti to drop in vials of whatever he likes. Most of the drugs seem fine, but of course there are always new experiments, and as a couple of prisoners (Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett) are about to find out, at least one of Abnesti's creations is going to take them where they've never gone before.
Check out the trailer below:
Hemsworth is probably always going to be best known for his work as Thor, but seeing him step into a role like this is enough to remind everyone that he has quite a bit to offer elsewhere. There are notes of Ex Machina running through this whole movie, and that makes the idea of Hemsworth gleefully dropping into the mode of a tech genius who's unafraid to cross every line in the book very enticing indeed.
Spiderhead hits Netflix June 17.
Looking for more science fiction and bloody thrills in the meantime? Check out SYFY's Resident Alien, as well as Chucky, streaming now on Peacock.
