Jake Gyllenhaal recently a long-awaited stab at action superstardom with his Prime Video remake of Road House, which hit the streamer on March 21st (although it should have gone to theaters). Dev Patel also is making a promising attempt at the genre with his amazing looking Monkey Man. Not too long ago, we wrote a piece of JoBlo that asked who the next big action icons might be, and indeed, some fresh blood being worked into the genre is long overdue. Gyllenhaal and Patel both seem like great new additions to the canon, but who else could make it in the genre? Tom Cruise, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Keanu Reeves, and Henry Cavill are doing well in the action genre these days, and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow has passed the baton to Florence Pugh, but here are a few more movie stars we think have what it takes to be the new action stars:
I would have thought you were nuts if you had told me a decade ago that Zac Efron would become an Arnold Schwarzenegger-style muscleman as he got older. Yet, the former High School Musical star has consistently pushed himself to the brink by packing on muscle. In The Iron Claw, he also proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he also has the acting talent to play darker roles brilliantly. Given how physically capable he is, it’s strange that Hollywood has never cast him in a major action flick, with him having the look and presence of a truly iconic addition to the genre. With Edgar Wright tackling The Running Man, Efron would have been an inspired choice to take the lead – but the role went to Top Gun: Maverick‘s Glen Powell, who is also an interesting choice.
The same goes for Efron’s The Iron Claw co-star, Jeremy Allen White. His performance on The Bear is already iconic, and while people are fond of saying he looks like he could be related to Gene Wilder, to me, he has a Steve McQueen-style presence that hasn’t been exploited yet. Steven Spielberg is doing a sequel to Bullitt with Bradley Cooper in the title role, but I can’t help but think White might be even better.
Ok, Michael B. Jordan has the Creed franchise and he got a big action movie a couple of years ago – Without Remorse. Despite good Tom Clancy source material, the movie kinda fell flat. The studio that produced it, Paramount, made it too small-scale, and it’s no wonder they offloaded it to Prime Video during the pandemic. Jordan deserved more of a chance to shine, and apparently, the studio agrees as a sequel/ spin-off based on Rainbow Six has been greenlit, although it remains to be seen if it will ever get made. If so, he’s definitely on his way to being one of the new action stars.
While known for small roles on shows like The Mandalorian, this actress is primed to break out in a big way with Love Lies Bleeding (check out my Sundance review). In it, she plays a female bodybuilder who, along with her lover (played by Kristen Stewart), ends up embroiled in a noir-ish plot. In that movie, she shows some legitimate dramatic chops, and with her physical presence, casting her in a major action role seems like a no-brainer.
A perennial favourite – it makes no sense that Hollywood has never given Scott Adkins a legit A-level action film. He has it all: presence, looks, a cool accent and even some decent comedy chops. He would make for a terrific Jason Statham-style action hero if given a movie on par with The Beekeeper. If they do a sequel to that movie, Adkins would be an ideal antagonist. And, for those who may dismiss Adkins as an actor, do yourselves a favor and check out Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. His performance in that one is iconic.
Who do YOU think should be the new action stars? Where are the new Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallones, Jackie Chans, and Liam Neesons? Who can follow in the footsteps of Bruce Lee to be a new martial arts icon? Who would you like to see headline a franchise like Mission: Impossible or John Wick?