Adria Arjona Talks Onslaught, Man Of Tomorrow, The Thomas Crown Affair & Star Wars Return Potential

Adria Arjona has found a sweet spot for smart thrillers and action vehicles. Small budget, big budget, and anywhere in between – the top filmmakers in Hollywood are looking toward Arjona as their leading lady when they need a badass hero with an old school action confidence and captivating emotional depth.

What sets her apart is the emotional gravity, grounding, and undeniable charm she brings to her roles, whether her character is fighting for democracy in a galaxy far far away in Andor or is hiring a fake hitman in New Orleans in Hit Man. Or, in the case of her new sci-fi thriller Onslaught, an army sniper and flawed mother defending her family from super soldiers in a trailer park.

While it may come as a surprise given her massive popularity in Hollywood in recent years, Onslaught marks Adria Arjona’s first central leading role in a big genre movie. Becoming first on the call sheet for an A24 action thriller, which also boasts popular names like Drew Starkey, Dan Stevens, and Rebecca Hall, is a feat Arjona has long been qualified for – and Adam Wingard’s anticipated horror return with Onslaught was the fitting start to this milestone.

To play Celeste, Wingard was looking to recapture the ‘80s sci-fi action sentiment of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor or Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. If anyone could embody the aura of these icons in today’s landscape, it’s Arjona.

However, speaking with ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan for this profile cover story, featuring photography by Wes Ellis, Arjona initially wasn’t sure she was right for the task. “I walked in being really scared, going, ‘I don’t know if I’m cut out for this specific part,’ because it’s physically challenging,” says Arjona. “It’s incredibly hard to get that duality between tough and strong and the motherhood element of it, and it’s a lot to do.”

As it turns out, being scared of a role has become a bit of a secret sauce for Adria Arjona.

Arjona’s start to Onslaught was unconventional, yet ultimately proved just how naturally she’d fit into the part of Celeste. When Arjona drove to meet Wingard about the movie in her 1979 orange pickup truck, she was 20 minutes late because her vehicle broke down and she had to fix it on the side of the road:

“Well, first off, I think I might’ve been like 20 minutes late because I broke down on the way to the meeting and had to fix something. I finally got my car to start again and get to the meeting. I smell like gas, and I’m all dirty already. He’s like, “Is that your car?” I’m like, “Yep, that’s me. I’m sorry. I’m late. And I smell like s—t.”

It was as if Celeste had walked right into the room. This was exactly the sort of off-kilter grit that Wingard had in mind. According to Arjona, that was unintentionally the moment that she believes sealed the deal for Wingard casting her.

I look at all these amazing action stars, and I know it’s been done. I’ve seen it so many times. I’ve done it, although I was not at the center of it.

Just as her unorthodox entrance helped Wingard realize she was right for Celeste, Arjona’s reservations about doing Onslaught went away “the second she met [Wingard].” After hearing his “kooky” pitch for the movie, she walked away with certainty on the project. “I’m doing this,” recalls Arjona. “I have to do this.”

“And then we met, and he just let me into his brain, which is weird and kooky and amazing. And he’s so funny! For an hour and a half, I spent time in there, with him pitching me the whole movie – and I left going like, ‘I need to do this.’”

What stuck out to Arjona is the You’re Next director’s style for set pieces and sequences. Wingard had a clear vision for what he wanted Onslaught to be, and the pitch that he made sounds like a horror sci-fi fan’s dream. When introducing Onslaught, he described an epic, detailed John Carpenter movie-style opening that would set the tone and vibe for the entire movie in the first 30 seconds:

“He’ll guide you through the rhythm of a sequence. The first one that he pitched, he was like, ‘Alright, we’re going to open up. It’s going to be like John Carpenter.’ And he does the sound elements of it, and the sound is crazy! Then he’s going, ‘Splash! You’re going to be shooting these pumpkins, it’s going to go boom, and then it’s going to start. Onslaught.’ And I was like, ‘We’re at what minute?’ But we’re at 30 seconds!

He’ll walk you through it like that, and it’s like you’re watching a John Carpenter movie narrated by Adam Wingard. It’s amazing. And everything he told me is in the movie. There’s nothing that we shot that didn’t make it in the movie.”

While Arjona was sold on Wingard’s vision for Onslaught, there were still some reservations she had before shooting and becoming the center of this type of action project. Sigourney Weaver in Alien and Terminator’s Sarah Connor were Wingard and Arjona’s “North Stars” for Celeste, mixed with a “poppy John Carpenter ‘80s vibe.”

Arjona was intent on “not emulating a man” when tackling the toughness and anti-hero elements of Celeste. In terms of classic John Carpenter characters, Celeste is more of a Kurt Russell in Escape from New York than a Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween.

Striving to make her approach to Celeste’s strength as authentic as possible, Arjona and Wingard, who was having a child when writing Onslaught, started by looking at their personal paternal relationships:

“She’s so tough, and she’s struggling with post-traumatic stress. Performance-wise, I was like, ‘How do you do that?’ Then I started thinking, ‘Dude, I drive a freaking pickup truck. I’m obsessed with tractors. There is a version of Celeste in me somewhere.’ I think that making her strong, but not necessarily tough, was my main goal.

I think when I look at a mom, I’m like, ‘You’re the strongest woman I know.’ So, how do I navigate that? I have a 16-year-old brother. I was 18 when he was born, so I was like, ‘I’m going to really hold onto that maternal element I felt the day he was born, even though he’s my brother.’”

When it came to the anti-hero authenticity and coming-of-age themes in Onslaught, Arjona and Wingard defied gender and racial stereotypes for parental roles, prioritizing Celeste as a flawed, rounded, human portrait. Celeste may be an unconventional character, but that was crucial to her authenticity and arc as a struggling parent:

“But making it believable that I’m in this trailer park, and that I’m not the best mom, was a big discussion with Adam. It’s the fact that I really didn’t want to be the best mom. I think we’ve seen so many nurturing, beautiful Latin characters. But there are also Latin women who are not the best moms. We’re a little bit of everything, and that was important because it gives Celeste a place to go to…

I’m an actress, so obviously, I care about what people think. You’re constantly hearing things, as much as we say we don’t give a f—k, we all do. But Celeste doesn’t. She really just doesn’t care. She’s not gimmicky in that way. She just really believes they’re doing something illegal that is not right for humanity near her. And she doesn’t know what it is, so she can’t stop it…

She’s not a good, nurturing mother, I don’t think, but also we caught her on a weekend that the dad just plopped her daughter with her. So, there are guns, the dishes aren’t made, the cigarettes and beers are all out. She’s like, ‘I wasn’t ready for this. It wasn’t my weekend.’ She’s kind of like what we have seen before of the absentee father [stereotype].”

The personality and emotional pathos of Celeste was just one part of building Onslaught’s anti-hero; just as crucial was the action and stunts. Of course, as anyone who has seen Adria Arjona’s movies can attest, she’d been honing in on these skills for quite a while.

While not the Jedi lightsaber battles that Star Wars is notorious for, Arjona handled blasters and some disturbing fight sequences as mechanic Bix Caleen throughout Andor. She also appeared in the ensemble of action icon Michael Bay’s 6 Underground, played a key vampiric role in Marvel’s Spider-Man spinoff Morbius, and experienced plenty of bloody action in the James Gunn-written horror The Belko Experiment.

Onslaught, however, was a different beast.

Two key skills that Arjona had to pick up for the sci-fi horror were shooting snipers and handling a chainsaw. “I mean, I’ve never worked with a chainsaw,” she admits. “They’re heavy as hell. We had a prop one because I had to do a stunt with it, and even that was f—king heavy. I was like, ‘Oh God, how am I going to do this?’”

The stunt work for Onslaught required substantial tactical training, focusing on specifics of how to clear rooms, walk into rooms, and get out of rooms. While she felt ready after watching videos on the subject, Adria noted that a key part was learning “very specific movements that not only protect you, but protect the soldiers around you.”

Not only was Arjona learning new, highly-specific skills for Onslaught’s action, but the choreographer had a greater challenge due to the choreography accounting for a child being included. Rather than star Adria Arjona, the biggest priority in terms of protection during stunts was Blake Kennedy, who plays Celeste’s young daughter, Daisy.

“Specifically, because we had a child on set, everything was designed to protect the child in the movie. So, if I was dealing with a 20-pound metal chainsaw or sniper, and she’s in the room, I’m thinking about how to clear it, and how to make sure that she’s safe. Everything was about how to keep her safe, and how to run with the baby. If I were to trip, how do I fall in order to protect her? Maybe I break my ankle.”

It’s comparable to the choreography Sigourney Weaver would have learned for James Cameron’s 1986 sci-fi Aliens, as Ripley carrying and protecting the child Newt (12-year-old Carrie Henn) added a new challenge after the character’s solo Xenomorph battle sequences from 1979’s Alien.

While protecting her young co-star was Arjona’s top priority, the movie star was also understandably worried about injuring herself in the process. When it was just Arjona and Kennedy’s stunt double, those fears were far less present:

“You’re just like, ‘F—k. Nobody cares about me.’ And they were all like, ‘Yep. Blake is number one.’ There was a lot of stuff that I did with her double as well, which is easier. I felt way more comfortable because I’m with a professional who knows how to fall. If we both fall, we both protect each other. But if I was doing it with [Blake], then I would get so scared. It’s so stupid, but [learning how to fall] is the most important thing. That’s how you avoid breaking bones.”

The intensity of the choreography and stunts in Onslaught’s shoot makes sense, though, when seeing what Arjona’s character is fighting. While Alien has Xenomorphs, John Carpenter has Michael Meyers, and Terminator has the T-1000, Onslaught introduces the terrifying super soldiers, which Arjona admits she had nightmares about.

I think this movie stayed with me, in the sense that I had nightmares of the super soldiers for a while.

To top it off, Onslaught’s action sequences come with a very Tarantino-esque amount of blood, an intentional point for Wingard, Arjona reveals:

“I think the whole budget of this movie just went to fake blood. But the fake blood was a whole challenge because Adam really wanted it to be the exact same blood that [Quentin] Tarantino used for Kill Bill. It’s a very specific color, and he wanted that color in our movie.”

Onslaught is far from the first movie that leads to Arjona being covered in blood, with the actor noting her previous bloody roles in The Belko Experiment and Blink Twice. “I think I like being covered in blood,” admits Arjona. “I think I might be into it! What is wrong with me?”

Within the sci-fi genre, Adria Arjona’s biggest breakthrough was Andor’s Bix Caleen, a character she constantly carries with her via an unconventional tattoo:

“I have a little tattoo for Bix; a little X. My makeup artist on the show did it in my trailer, which nobody was very happy about. Tony [Gilroy] was like, ‘Don’t tell that story.’ Well, now the show’s done! It was a stick and poke, and she has it on her leg, and she tattooed me here. It was the last day on set. I was in tears, and it was a cute little way to wrap the character.”

Andor marked a huge career milestone for Arjona, becoming the first show she had ever done two seasons for. However, following the show’s start in 2022 and conclusion in 2025, the project means much more within the larger scale of her acting career:

“There’s a very permanent before and after Andor for me and for my career, just in terms of who I am as an actor and as a producer. And even how the audience views me. It was all thanks to Andor, so I’m really thankful to that show. I think I came out a very different person.”

Whether she’ll play Bix again after Andor’s emotional series ending is another story. When asked about a potential Star Wars return, Arjona didn’t say “no,” but noted some conditions for coming back after Andor series creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy’s finale:

“There’s a duality to this because I want to respect Tony’s ending to the show. But I also love this character so much that I would never say never. Well, I don’t know what I would say. It would have to be someone great behind it. Because it’s Tony, and because I got to create this character with him, I would like to pay that respect. So, it would have to be about who is involved.

But you never know! If I’m 75 years old, and they’re like, ‘Do you want to be in a Star Wars show?’ I’d be like, ‘Hell yeah, I don’t care! How much? They’re not really calling me, so I’ll do it.’ But I do want to respect Tony’s version of the ending for my character.”

While her return to a galaxy far far away is still up in the air, Adria Arjona isn’t slowing down when it comes to action or thriller projects after Onslaught. Indeed, she’s entering arguably the busiest era of her career so far over the next couple of years with high-profile movies and TV shows.

I wouldn’t be in Andor if it hadn’t been for Peter Safran and James Gunn.

Arjona just kicked off filming on the highly anticipated DCU movie Man of Tomorrow. While it’s been reported that Arjona is playing Maxima in James Gunn’s Superman sequel, there were also rumors that she’d be portraying Wonder Woman. While Arjona wasn’t able to clarify her Man of Tomorrow character, she gave us some insight into the training process she’s been undergoing for the role:

“I have muscles that I’ve never had in my life. I’m training two to three hours a day on a crazy diet. Drinking coffee is the only thing that keeps me up. And I’m really excited!”

Arjona also discussed her excitement to reunite with DC Studios co-CEOs and co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran for the 2027 film. Gunn and Saffran co-produced and Gunn wrote her 2016 movie The Belko Experiment, marking a full circle moment for the group:

“I’m excited to be reunited with the family that started everything for me, which is Peter Safran and James Gunn. They gave me my first movie. I wouldn’t have done any of the movies that we’ve spoken about today if not for them. I wouldn’t be in Andor if it hadn’t been for Peter Safran and James Gunn, so it feels really f—king cool and really exciting to reunite with that team and to be in that family. And that’s all I’m going to tell you!”

Also in 2027, Adria Arjona is starring as the female lead opposite director and star Michael B. Jordan in The Thomas Crown Affair remake. Soon after, she’s taking the lead in the Sarah-Violet Bliss-directed erotic thriller Scorn, which Arjona compares to 1987’s Fatal Attraction.

When approaching new roles, Arjona is eager for “offbeat” projects that allow her to showcase different characters and aspects of her life. While Arjona notes that she’s nervous for this next chapter, she admits that “a piece has to scare me a little bit” to be on board:

“If I’ve already done it, I really try not to do it again because then I’m going to phone it in. That’s just me being super, super honest. I like things to surprise me. I want to learn from whatever it is that I’m doing. Like with Splitsville, I had never done a comedy in that way or on that level – and I remember being so nervous.

In Thomas Crown, I’m a romantic lead, but she stands on her own two feet. They play this cat-and-mouse game that is so beautiful. I love the original movie so much. And it scared me. Rene Russo (in the 1999 version) did it so well, and then going back to Steve McQueen (in 1968). They’re just so great. But the only way to do it is just jump in.

And then I have this other movie called Scorn, which is kind of like [Fatal Attraction]. It’s through the perspective of the woman, and it really scared me. I was like, ‘I don’t necessarily agree with what she’s doing… Or do I agree with what she’s doing? How do I dance in this?’ It just felt so intense and so scary.”

Scorn was a new step that almost scared Arjona too much. In fact, she admits she nearly dropped out of the role before the director convinced her to take the leap:

“I almost backed out two weeks before filming it because I was like, ‘I don’t have the tools. I’m going to f—king suck. I’m going to be so bad.’ But Sarah-Violet Bliss was like, ‘You are it. You’re scared of it, but just jump in. Just trust me and jump in.’ And it was probably one of the most liberating experiences of my life.”

After Onslaught, Thomas Crown, Scorn, and Man of Tomorrow, Adria Arjona knows one thing about what the next project she agrees to has to be: “Something that really scares me.”

Onslaught releases in theaters nationwide on Friday, September 4.

](/tag/action-movies/)

](/tag/horror/)

](/tag/thriller/)

Adria Arjona