Just, say it out loud for a second. A cockroach wakes up human. Decides to become a crime boss. Gets played by Chris Hemsworth.
Kockroach has officially wrapped filming in Australia, and first-look photos featuring Hemsworth and Taron Egerton are now out. The New York-set crime pic follows a mysterious stranger in the city’s criminal underworld as he turns himself into a boss in a city where power is everything.
That reads like a perfect brief, and then you find out where the curse “mysterious stranger” comes from.
The film is basically the opposite of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Instead of a man turning into a cockroach, a cockroach wakes up in a 1950s New York city hotel room. He discovers that he has turned into a human being. From there, Hemsworth’s bug turns into a gangster. And, yes, there’s actually a fun gory supernatural element to the film.
Yes. Thor plays a bug that decided organized crime was a good future.
First-look photos show Hemsworth and Egerton wearing dark outfits in a classic noir crime thriller vibe, with long black overcoats and matching fedora hats. It actually looks like a real prestige picture. No one even thinks, in a horrified way, that the main character had been scurrying under a refrigerator in his previous life.
The feature adaptation is based on the novel by William Lashner and is being directed by Matt Ross (known for Captain Fantastic). A screenplay by Jonathan Ames with revisions by Ross. Rachel Sennott, Zazie Beetz, Alec Baldwin, and Brian Geraghty also star.
A Solid Cast but difficult to secure
The road to this cast was anything but smooth. Originally announced in August 2025 with Channing Tatum, Oscar Isaac and Beetz attached, the project saw Isaac replaced by Egerton in October 2025 due to scheduling conflicts. Hemsworth then joined in February 2026, stepping in for Tatum who also dropped out for the same reason.
Principal photography began on April 13, 2026, in Australia. Filming was described early on as being lined up in the vein of Goodfellas and Scarface. Which, to be fair, tracks. If you’re a cockroach clawing your way to the top of New York’s mob scene, you probably want that energy.
Hemsworth shared the wrap update on Instagram, calling Kockroach “quite possibly the most fun” he has had on a set. He shouted out Egerton, Beetz, director Ross, and photographer Cristian Prieto. Prieto’s vintage Widelux camera gave behind-the-scenes photos a stretched, shadowy old-Hollywood look.
The film is expected to hit theaters in late 2026 or early 2027. No distributor has been confirmed yet for domestic release. With this cast and a premise this unhinged, it’s hard to imagine it staying quiet for long.
