Aaron Pierre has his next action lead. Netflix has announced that the Rebel Ridge and Lanterns star will headline Fairytale in New York, a new action thriller from Sisu director Jalmari Helander. The film is set on Christmas Eve in New York City, where an unassuming cab driver sets out on a night of revenge after a priceless gift meant for his estranged son is stolen. Netflix confirmed the project yesterday afternoon. Check out the official post down below:
Lionsgate Is Producing For Netflix
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix won Fairytale in New York from Lionsgate with a competitive bid, and Lionsgate is producing the film. Helander directs from an original spec script by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, the writing team behind Helander's upcoming John Rambo.
Beau Flynn produces for FlynnPictureCo, along with Kevin King Templeton for Templeton Media. Scott Sheldon, Haines and Noshirvani are executive producers, and James Myers and Pavan Kalidindi oversee the production for Lionsgate.
Lionsgate previously produced War Machine for Netflix. Erin Westerman, president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a statement:
"Coming off the extraordinary success of War Machine, we couldn't be more excited to be making another film with our friends at Netflix. And this marks our third collaboration with Jalmari. He's an exceptional filmmaker with a distinctive ability to deliver visceral, memorable action while never losing sight of character and emotion. That makes him a perfect match for Aaron Pierre, who has all the makings of a major movie star, commanding screen presence, undeniable charisma and the ability to bring real depth and emotion to his performances. We think this is going to be a very special film."
No production start date, additional cast or release date has been announced.
Jalmari Helander's Action Run
Helander is a Finnish writer and director whose features include Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale in 2010 and Big Game in 2014, which starred Samuel L. Jackson as the President of the United States. Rare Exports follows a boy in northern Finland after an excavation in the mountains near his village uncovers the real Santa Claus, a far darker figure than the one in children's stories. Big Game sent the President into the Finnish wilderness after Air Force One is shot down, where a 13-year-old boy on a hunting rite of passage is the only person who can help him. Fairytale in New York is Helander's second Christmas-set feature after Rare Exports.
His breakout came with Sisu in 2022, a World War II action film starring Jorma Tommila as Aatami Korpi, a former soldier who takes on a Nazi platoon in Lapland. Tommila returned in the 2025 sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge, with Stephen Lang as the former Red Army officer who killed Korpi's family. The first trailer for that sequel was covered in SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE - Jorma Tommila's Unkillable Warrior Returns In Brutal First Trailer.
Helander's next release is John Rambo, a prequel to First Blood starring Noah Centineo as a young John Rambo. That film's start of production was covered in RAMBO Prequel Starring Noah Centineo Officially Enters Production; First Poster Revealed.
Aaron Pierre's Rise
Pierre is a British actor who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He broke out as Caesar in Barry Jenkins's The Underground Railroad, voiced the young Mufasa in Mufasa: The Lion King and played Malcolm X in Genius: MLK/X.
His first major action lead came in Rebel Ridge, Jeremy Saulnier's 2024 Netflix thriller, where he played Terry Richmond, a former Marine who takes on a small-town police force after officers seize the cash he needs to post his cousin's bail. Pierre now plays John Stewart in HBO and DC Studios' Lanterns and is set to return to the role in Man of Tomorrow.
Netflix's other big-city crime thrillers include The Take, its heist film starring Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson, as covered in Netflix's The Take Sends Denzel Washington And Robert Pattinson After A Manhattan Bank On January 15.
Here is the official trailer for Rebel Ridge, Pierre's previous action film for Netflix:
After Rebel Ridge, does a Christmas Eve revenge story set in New York City sound like the right next action role for Aaron Pierre?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.