MOVIE NEWS – The new campaign for The Uprising confirms that Andrew Garfield and Paul Greengrass’s historical epic explores the origins of the Robin Hood legend.

Earlier material for the film did not directly emphasize the folk hero’s name, but the new promotional campaign now uses the tagline “The Rise of Robin Hood.” That effectively confirms that The Uprising is not only a large-scale dramatization of the English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, but also a historical prelude to the Robin Hood myth.

Andrew Garfield plays a commoner known only as the Ploughman, who leads a rebellion against the tyrannical rule of King Richard II. The name itself is an important clue: one of the earliest literary references to Robin Hood appears in William Langland’s 14th-century work Piers Plowman, while the project’s original working title was The Hood.

Paul Greengrass directs and produces the film from his own screenplay, with Jason Blum also producing. Jamie Bell, Katherine Waterston, Tom Hollander, Thomasin McKenzie, Jonny Lee Miller and Dónal Finn join Garfield in the cast, and the release is set for September 11, 2026.

The Uprising therefore looks less like another adventure starring a fully formed Robin Hood and more like an exploration of the historical world from which the modern legend could have emerged. As we discussed in our Robin Hood review, the story works best when a believable human being and genuine social tensions exist behind the familiar outlaw icon.

The Focus Features marketing shift also makes commercial sense, because the Robin Hood name immediately gives the historical war epic a recognizable identity. Its chances will still depend on more than the legend, however: Garfield’s performance and Greengrass’s intense filmmaking style are likely to determine whether the movie can stand out.

Source: MovieWeb