Netflix has a huge film series problem. The streamer can churn out TV franchises that keep fans coming back, from Love is Blind to Squid Game, but replicating the blockbuster movie has always remained elusive. Rian Johnson has somewhat found a footing with the most recent Knives Out installment, but Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon never really took off.
So when the streamer announced Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo — who had previously worked with Netflix on The Gray Man and both Extraction movies — would direct an ambitious sci-fi epic based on Simon Stalenhåg’s The Electric State, I was wary. In fact, I’m cited in the movie’s Wikipedia page as someone who “expressed concerns” that the first-look images “were confirmation that the film would seemingly be unfaithful to the original book.”
