“Canis Constellation”: Ridley Scott made a science-fiction film without a single zombie — and called it a fundamental decision

The 88-year-old director of “Alien” and “Gladiator” returned to science fiction for the first time in ten years — but instead of hordes of the infected, the viewer will see a mechanic, a dog and an old Cessna over the ruins of Colorado. At the London premiere, Scott explained why there is no longer room for the dead in the post-apocalypse of the 21st century.

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The action takes place years after a pandemic that has wiped out most of humanity. The main character, Hig, a mechanic and pilot who lost his wife in a crash, lives in the hangar of an abandoned airport in a fictional town in Colorado. He is accompanied by an aging dog and a former military man named Bangley, with whom Hig shares both shelter and wariness towards each other.

On an old yellow plane, the hero regularly flies around the area in search of surviving people and supplies. Everything changes when he catches a fragment of a radio signal and goes to a mountain refuge, where a woman named Sima and an old man nicknamed Pops are hiding. The meeting brings the hero both hope and new problems.

The role of Higa went to Jacob Elordi, an actor who in recent years has firmly established himself in the role of dramatic heroes after Euphoria and the recent Frankenstein. Bangley is played by Josh Brolin, for whom this is already his second collaboration with Scott after American Gangster almost twenty years ago. The cast also includes Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney and Benedict Wong — and for Pearce and Wong this is the third film under Scott's direction after Prometheus and The Martian, respectively.

Mark L. Smith, known for his work on “The Revenant” with Leonardo DiCaprio, was responsible for the script — the experience of writing a story about survival in extreme conditions was clearly useful here. Scott's frequent collaborator Harry Gregson-Williams was the composer, and Eric Messerschmidt, Oscar winner for «Mank,» was the cinematographer.

Why no zombies is a conscious choice

At the world premiere in London on Thursday, Scott explained to reporters that he agreed to the project as soon as he read Smith's adaptation of the script. The director admitted that at first he was wary of the material — the genre of post-apocalyptic fiction has literally been oversaturated in recent years, and it’s not easy to hold the audience’s attention with something fundamentally new. But as he read the script, he was convinced, and fears that the author would “blow away” by the end were not confirmed.

Separately, Scott emphasized: there are an abundance of films about zombies in the industry, and he deliberately decided to do without this cliche. Instead of the usual hopelessness of the genre, the director said that he wanted to put an optimistic message into the film — and called such a message especially necessary now.

This phrase does not look like a random remark for the press. In recent years, the post-apocalyptic genre — from serial franchises about the infected to numerous video game adaptations — has exploited almost the same scheme: civilization collapses, survivors are at each other's throats for canned food, and any hope turns out to be an illusion. Scott, who directed “Blade Runner” and “Alien,” knows a lot about dark worlds — but, judging by his words, in the new film he decided to shift the emphasis from survival at any cost to human connection.

Italian nature and four-legged frame partner

A significant part of the filming was carried out in Italy — using several cameras at once, which is a familiar working method for Scott, a famous director of large-scale films like Gladiator. Elordi, in an interview at the premiere, noted that the process was easy for him: the actor admitted that he enjoyed the long days of filming outdoors, and called his dog named Jasper his most memorable partner.

According to Elordi, a professional team of trainers monitored the animal’s behavior on set, so the actor was only required to take a treat out of his pocket in time. A small detail, but it illustrates well the general tone in which Scott and the actors spoke about the film at the premiere: despite the gloomy scenery of a scorched world, the filming process was remembered by the team as more warm than heaviness.

The author of the original source, Peter Heller, in his own words, did not put forward any conditions when selling the rights to the film adaptation and was impressed with the finished result. The writer noted that cinema is a completely different discipline with its own laws, but the idea that you need to remain open and take risks for the sake of love for another person is preserved in the film and remains the main thing for him. Benedict Wong, who plays a member of the Mennonite community, added that the story is about hope, human decency and the connection between people in difficult times, and called it an example that is especially relevant today.

When and where to watch

The international premiere of the film in cinemas is scheduled for August 26, 2026, the American release starts two days later, on August 28. It is distributed by 20th Century Studios and produced by Scott himself through his company Scott Free Productions, along with Michael Pruess, Mark L. Smith and Cliff Roberts. The project's budget is estimated at about $110 million — a substantial amount, but by the standards of Scott's own films, rather average: for comparison, «Napoleon» with Joaquin Phoenix cost almost twice as much.

It is worth noting that the premiere date for “The Constellation of the Dog” — as the book and film are most often called in Russian-language sources, along with the version “Dog Stars” — changed more than once: the release was initially announced for March 2026, then moved forward by almost six months, at the end of summer. The studio has not yet officially announced the Russian distribution, but in the current conditions of distribution of Hollywood blockbusters in the country it is far from uncommon: some films from major studios reach domestic screens with a delay or through alternative platforms, and some do not reach them at all.

For Scott himself, the new film is also notable for the fact that this is his first directorial work after “Gladiator II” — that is, a return not only to the genre, but also to active production activity in principle. Considering the director's age and his recent statements about the state of modern cinema, which he called in a recent interview not the most flattering word, the industry and audiences now view each new Scott project almost as an event in itself.

Sources:
reuters.com
lenta.ru
en.wikipedia.org

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