With Sam Worthington (Avatar: The Way of Water), Jordana Brewster (Fast X), and Simu Liu (Marvel’s Shang-Chi), the indie sci-fi thriller Simulant (formerly Hello Stranger) boasts stars from some of the biggest franchises in the world. Directed by actress-turned-filmmaker April Mullen, the Blade Runner-esque story centers on a humanoid A.I. who becomes more human-like to win back the woman he loves, a widow whose dead husband he resembles. But this also places him in the crosshairs of an agent tasked with stopping A.I. from gaining consciousness.
The cast is led by Upgrade star Robbie Amell, who plays the titular simulant. Alicia Sanz, Mayko Nguyen, and Emmanuel Kabongo co-star.
Mullen has directed multiple films in her career, with the most recent being 2020 thriller Wander with Tommy Lee Jones and Aaron Eckhart.
Simulant has recently been made a DirecTV exclusive beginning on May 5th, followed by theaters and VOD on June 2nd.
Set in the near future, Evan (Robbie Amell), an android simulant, is created for Faye (Jordana Brewster) to replace her dead husband. To fully realize all his human traits, Evan enlists Casey (Simu Liu), a brilliant global hacker whose mission is to remove all restrictions governing simulants’ thoughts and capabilities. In doing so, he unleashes an A.I. uprising, triggering a government manhunt led by Agent Kessler (Sam Worthington) who will take extreme measures to eliminate the rise of the android machines.
