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.
Though details are still very limited about the collaboration between the five-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker and one of the biggest names in Hollywood history, there’s still reason to get excited about one of the most mysterious and anticipated releases on the 2026 movie schedule.
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 Teaser
There was a surprise teaser released in May 2026 in theaters showing Top Gun for its 40th anniversary, but unless you were there, you probably haven't seen it. We're still not sure when we’ll get a proper Digger trailer, or if and when that teaser will appear on the internet, so for now, we're going to have to stick with the quick look at the upcoming movie that Warner Bros. provided in December 2025. The studio dropped a 49-second teaser that is a lot of fun, especially as it really doesn't reveal anything about the movie beyond the title.
Before you ask, yes, that is Tom Cruise (wearing cowboy boots) dancing around an apartment of some sort before climbing on the railing of what looks like a pier or platform over the ocean. I have no idea what’s going on or what to expect, but it’s safe to say that I’m on board with this.
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.
Here’s everyone who’s joining the Digger cast, as reported by Deadline:
- 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.
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. But I don’t like to repeat myself, and every film should scare you a little. I felt Birdman was a comedy, a dark comedy, and this one was challenging like that. And Tom makes me laugh every single day. He has this total commitment, this total madness.
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.
Though we probably won’t be getting a Les Grossman-type of performance out of Cruise here, it will be so interesting to see how he does in a role where he’s not really running the whole time.
Expect to hear a whole lot more about Digger in the coming weeks and months. Until then, I’m going to geek out about Tom Cruise wearing cowboy boots, dancing to Gorillaz, for the next little while.
