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Rogue One director tackles a droid revolution in The Creator

A new trailer flexes the film’s District 9, Terminator, and Overwatch vibes

Susana Polo is an entertainment editor at Polygon, specializing in pop culture and genre fare, with a primary expertise in comic books. Previously, she founded The Mary Sue.

Wide vistas, strange space stations, mushroom clouds on the horizon — the latest trailer for The Creator shows that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards didn’t leave his sense of sci-fi awe back in the galaxy far, far away.

John David Washington (Tenet) and newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles star respectively as Joshua, a special forces agent, and Alfie, the mysterious, robot-war-ending weapon he’s been sent to retrieve. Other cast include Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, and Allison Janney; and the script was penned by Edwards and Rogue One co-writer Chris Weitz based on Edwards’ story.

That makes The Creator something quite rare in this era: a theatrical blockbuster sci-fi yarn that’s neither a sequel nor an adaptation. And while it’s clearly pulling on a long tradition of tales that have come before it, I for one welcome this new member of the “grimey robots have a complicated (and metaphorical) relationship with humanity” family of sci-fi film.

The Creator will hit theaters on Sept. 29.

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