Alan Ritchson replaces Jason Momoa in the Helldivers movie, release pushed to 2028

Sony has found its new lead for the Helldivers film — Alan Ritchson steps in after Jason Momoa exited the project over the summer. The studio also pushed the release date back nearly seven months, from November 10, 2027 to June 9, 2028.

Justin Lin remains in the director's chair. Momoa had been attached to the lead role before departing, and Sony spent time searching for a replacement before landing on Ritchson. Details about his character and how closely the script follows the events of Helldivers or Helldivers 2 haven't been revealed yet.

Ritchson is best known to genre audiences as Reacher in Amazon's hit action series, so he brings serious physical presence and action-hero credibility to a franchise built around armored super-soldiers dropping into bug-infested warzones. Helldivers 2 became one of the biggest live-service launches of 2024, which likely raised the stakes for Sony to get the casting right after Momoa's exit.

The later release date slots the film into a crowded summer 2028 window, as Sony lines it up behind several other game-to-screen adaptations. No plot details are public yet, so the next major update will probably be when production officially kicks off.