Netflix reveal key cast and first look images for Brad Bird’s ‘Ray Gunn’
RAY GUNN – In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova. Cr: Skydance Animation/Netflix © 2026
Netflix have revealed today a first look and cast announcement for their upcoming original animated film Ray Gunn.
In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova.
Directed and co-written (with Matthew Robbins) by two-time Academy Award®-winner Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), the Skydance Animation-produced Ray Gunn promises to bring “a unique alternate-future vision to life” with a cast headed up by Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits.
RAY GUNN – In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova. Cr: Skydance Animation/Netflix © 2026
RAY GUNN has been in my mind for over 30 years. The film is a blend of sci-fi and classic detective movies from the ’40s…it’s Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers. I’ve been a fan of both of those sort of genres, and blending them together seemed fun, and a chance to play with a lot of very cinematic elements, and extreme characters.
There’s a big chunk of people who don’t watch animation. That’s a group I’m anxious to persuade because it’s an amazing art form that is way too limited in people’s minds. Animation as a medium is too interesting to limit what kind of stories can be told.
-Brad Bird (Director/Writer/Producer, Ray Gunn)
Having the opportunity to collaborate with Brad Bird is a career milestone for me; I have loved his work my entire life. This project is so uniquely special because it is a total realization of where Brad is currently on his artistic journey. I can’t wait for audiences to see this extraordinary animation that looks like nothing else out there.
-Scarlett Johansson (Voice of ‘Venus Nova’)
RAY GUNN – In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova. Cr: Skydance Animation/Netflix © 2026
Ray Gunn is among Netflix’s ongoing slate of original animated features that also includes the Academy Award®-winning KPop Demon Hunters and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the Academy Award®-nominated films Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Nimona, The Sea Beast, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Over the Moon, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and Klaus as well as the BAFTA®-nominated Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and the upcoming Steps.
Ray Gunn will be released on Netflix later this year.