Andrew Garfield’s ‘The Uprising’ Was Secretly a Robin Hood Movie All Along, and Fans Have Feelings
Paul Greengrass has built a career on turning real history into breathless, handheld tension, from ‘United 93’ to ‘Captain Phillips.’ His next film, ‘The Uprising,’ promised more of that same gritty realism, this time transporting audiences back to medieval England for a story rooted in genuine rebellion rather than legend.
Andrew Garfield leads the project as a farmer-turned-revolutionary, with a supporting cast that includes Jamie Bell, Thomasin McKenzie, Cosmo Jarvis, Tom Hollander, and Woody Norman as a teenage King Richard II. For months, the marketing around the film leaned into its grounded, historical framing rather than any mythology.
That changed this week. New promotional material, including a fresh poster and trailer clips, confirmed that ‘The Uprising’ is being repositioned as an origin story for Robin Hood, with the tagline “Witness the rise of Robin Hood” now attached to the release.
The reveal caught plenty of people off guard, given that the film’s marketing had spent months focused squarely on the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 rather than Sherwood Forest folklore. Garfield’s character, a commoner known as Ploughman, leads a violent uprising against the tyranny of the young king and his enforcers, a premise that always echoed the roots of the Robin Hood legend without explicitly naming it.
Recent footage leans into that connection directly, showing Garfield’s character clashing with a tax collector who threatens to take his hand if he doesn’t pay up. The farmer responds by sweeping the collector’s belongings off the table and declaring that he and the other villagers have given enough, a scene that plays like a direct precursor to the outlaw hero audiences already know.
Not everyone is convinced the rebrand is a smart move. Industry commentary has pointed out that this marks the second Robin Hood-adjacent release of the year, following the box office struggles of ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ earlier this summer. World of Reel’s own analysis of the retitling raised the question of why a project built around Wat Tyler’s rebellion would pivot toward Robin Hood branding despite that earlier film bombing hard at the box office, especially so close to release.
The skepticism isn’t limited to one outlet, either. Fans reacting to the news online have questioned whether tying the film to Robin Hood dilutes what was originally pitched as a serious historical drama, with some pointing out that the title itself has apparently shifted in the lead-up to release.
Beyond the marketing pivot, ‘The Uprising’ still carries real historical weight. The story is set during the aftermath of the Black Death, as King Richard II pushed for steep new taxes to help fund the Hundred Years’ War, sparking the rebellion that Garfield’s character comes to lead.
Greengrass wrote, directed, and produced the film himself, working alongside Jason Blum’s Blumhouse banner in what has been described as a passion project years in the making. The cast rounds out with Stephen Dillane, Jonny Lee Miller, Katherine Waterston, and Stanley Townsend, giving the rebellion an ensemble built for both intimate character work and large-scale battle sequences.
Whether the Robin Hood framing helps or hurts the film’s box office prospects remains to be seen, particularly with ‘The Uprising’ opening the same day as Warner Bros.’ ‘Practical Magic 2.’ Skipping the fall festival circuit entirely has already raised some eyebrows about the studio’s confidence heading into release.
‘The Uprising’ arrives in theaters on September 11, giving audiences just over two weeks to decide whether this rebranding sparks curiosity or skepticism.
What do you think of The Uprising becoming a Robin Hood origin story?
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