‘Play Dead’: Netflix Picks Up Sam Raimi Produced WWII Thriller!!

Netflix is known globally for being home to the largest collection of television shows and movies, with a broad genre coverage from thrillers, horrors, crime, romance, and so much more. Each year, the streamer always seems to deliver mega titles that capture the attention of audiences. In 2026, for instance, Netflix has overseen the arrival of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s The Rip, Alan Ritchson‘s War Machine, and Cillian Murphy‘s final soirée as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. The biggest names in acting have their projects, and Taron Egerton is no different, with his 2024 thriller, Carry On, a memorable hit.

The Netflix action-thriller was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, with Egerton starring alongside Jason Bateman, and drew rave reviews after its launch. Collet-Serra is hoping to follow it up with yet another success story, and this time, the focus moves from an airport to the theater of war in World War II. Titled Play Dead and produced by legendary horror filmmaker Sam Raimi, the WWII thriller will star Noah Jupe (Hamnet) and Matthias Schweighöfer, who previously starred in a war masterpiece in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The director’s latest project will look to further explore one of the most adapted portions of human history.

According to a new report, Netflix believes in the potential of Play Dead, as the streamer has acquired the WWII thriller from director Collet-Serra. The film follows a shell-shocked soldier who, after seeing a deadly ambush wipe out his unit in the final days of World War II, must survive the night by pretending to be dead while surrounded by an enemy battalion of Nazi soldiers. Collet-Serra directs from a script by Natalie Conway and Peter Stanley-Ward, with the project receiving high praise as it’s previously been billed as Don’t Breathe meets 1917. Collet-Serra hopes Play Dead will follow in the footsteps of Carry-On, which remains Netflix’s third-most-popular film of all time.

World War II Has Provided So Many Adapted Projects Over the Years

As previously mentioned, the era of World War II is one of the most influential periods in human history. Given how transformational the conflict was for the world order, several projects have brought parts of it to the big screen. Some of the most famous projects include Apple TV‘s Masters of the Air, classics like Steven Spielberg‘s Saving Private Ryan, which once held the record for the highest-grossing WWII movie ever made before it was surpassed by Nolan’s Oppenheimer. With more recent projects like Prime Video‘s psychological thriller The Tank and the blood-soaked Sisu films, it is fair to say the fascination is far from over.