The Dog Stars - The Stars After the End, everything we know about Ridley Scott's new film
Tension and reflection in Ridley Scott's new film.
After depicting futures dominated by technology and alien worlds, Ridley Scott returns to science fiction with a post-apocalyptic story built around an essential question: what allows humans to go on when almost everything has been lost? The Dog Stars - The Stars After the End is the film adaptation of the novel published by Peter Heller in 2012 and released in Italy under the title Le stelle del cane.
Physical survival thus intertwines with the search for purpose, as the few remaining men and women are called to decide how much they are still willing to trust others.
The plot of The Dog Stars - The Stars After the End
A devastating flu pandemic has wiped out much of the world's population. Among the survivors is Hig, a young widowed civilian pilot, who lives with his dog Jasper in an abandoned airport near the Rocky Mountains.
Sharing the refuge with him is Bangley, a former marine expert in weapons and survival techniques. The two have profoundly different personalities. Hig continues to seek contact with what remains of humanity, while Bangley considers every stranger a possible threat. Their cohabitation arises from necessity and rests on a precarious balance, in which the desire to explore clashes with the instinct to defend the conquered territory.
Hig owns a small single-engine plane, called The Beast, which he uses to travel, fly over surrounding areas, search for resources, and observe isolated communities. During this suspended existence, he intercepts a mysterious radio transmission. The signal hints at the possibility that, beyond the borders of the world he knows, another group of survivors exists.
However, following that voice means abandoning a relatively safe base and crossing a territory infested with raiders. Hig chooses to leave anyway, driven by the hope of finding something that goes beyond the mere preservation of his own life. The journey leads him to Cima, a young doctor who lives in a remote fortification with her father Pops, a former Navy SEAL.
The cast of The Dog Stars - The Stars After the End
Jacob Elordi plays Hig, the pilot around whom the story unfolds. The Australian actor, known for the series Euphoria and for playing Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, tackles a character marked by grief, but still capable of imagining a different future.
Josh Brolin plays Bangley, a man not very inclined to dialogue who has made defending the refuge his mission. Behind his apparent coldness, however, emerges a rigorous sense of honor, which manifests itself in the protection of the few creatures to whom he has chosen to bond.
Margaret Qualley plays Cima, a doctor who, in a world now almost devoid of people, has few opportunities to exercise her role. The encounter with Hig opens a new space in both their lives. Their relationship arises from uncertainty and the difficulty of recognizing each other in a reality where trusting can mean exposing oneself to danger.
Guy Pearce is Pops, Cima's father, while Benedict Wong plays a farmer belonging to a hidden community in a valley. The cast also includes Allison Janney. Several actors also return to work with Scott: Brolin participated in American Gangster, Pearce in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, while Wong appeared in Prometheus and The Martian.
The director of The Dog Stars - The Stars After the End
Ridley Scott once again tackles a devastated future, but adopts a different approach compared to the bleakness of Blade Runner. According to the director, the central element of The Dog Stars is hope. The film observes what happens after the catastrophe, when surviving is no longer enough and it becomes necessary to find a reason to continue doing so.
The story allows Scott to intertwine tension and existential reflection. The relationship between Hig and Bangley also introduces moments of bitter humor, born from the contrast between those who consider conflict inevitable and those who continue to seek an alternative path.
The screenplay is by Mark L. Smith. Filming took place in the spring of 2025 and also involved several Italian locations. The production worked in Friuli, Veneto, Abruzzo and Rome, using natural landscapes, airports and urban areas to reconstruct an America emptied by the pandemic. Some scenes were shot at Cinecittà and in the EUR district.
When will The Dog Stars - The Stars After the End be released in Italy?
The Dog Stars - The Stars After the End will arrive in Italian cinemas on August 26, 2026. The US release is set for August 28.
The film thus brings Ridley Scott back to the territory of science fiction, but focuses on the bonds that can arise after the disappearance of society. In this depopulated world, danger is not only represented by those who try to seize the few available resources. The most difficult challenge is to preserve the ability to believe in others.