TOMORROW NEVER DIES

DIRECTOR CHRIS MCKAY AND WRITER ZACH DEAN ON WHAT COULD BE THE NEXT BIG SCI-FI FRANCHISE: THE TOMORROW WAR

- DARREN SCOTT

WHAT DO THEY WANT?” ZACH

Dean, writer of The Tomorrow War, considers of the film’s alien threat. “They want to live, just like we want to live. But we’re the means to that end. It’s that simple.”

Yes, the world is under attack again – but this time our best hope for the future lies in the past. Time travellers from 2051 arrive to warn the present day that, 30 years from now, the planet is all but lost to an alien species they’ve called the White Spikes.

An original sci-fi action movie, something director Chris McKay calls “increasingly rare”, it began life as Ghost Draft, with the film originally scheduled for a Christmas Day release in 2020. There was talk of a summer release, but Amazon – seeing a huge hit – swooped in.

Dean’s original script came from a bank of ideas, coupled with the notion of conscription and people being drafted – particularly family man Dan Forester, played by Chris Pratt. “Maybe there’s some unfulfilled dreams of what his life was going to be. That’s the part that really made the story finally kick into gear.”

HONEY, I KILLED THE KIDS

The human components are what sealed it for