Cold War Action Meets 80s Buddy Comedy: Ryan Reynolds & Kenneth Branagh Team Up in Mayday
Ryan Reynolds and Sir Kenneth Branagh join forces in Mayday, a genre-bending, action-packed buddy comedy from Apple TV that flips the classic Cold War spy thriller entirely on its head.
Get ready for high-stakes dogfights, covert ops, and unlikely camaraderie. Ryan Reynolds and Sir Kenneth Branagh are officially joining forces in Mayday, a genre-bending, action-packed buddy comedy that flips the classic Cold War spy thriller entirely on its head.
Directed and written by fan-favorite filmmaking duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Game Night), the Apple Original Film promises an homage to the explosive, charm-driven 1980s action cinema era.
What Is Mayday About? (Plot Breakdown)
Set at the height of the Cold War, the story kicks off when hotshot U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) is dispatched on a top-secret reconnaissance mission deep inside Russian territory.
When the operation disastrously implodes, Troy finds himself shot down and stranded far behind enemy lines. Believing his fate is sealed, Troy is discovered by Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), a gruff, eccentric ex-KGB agent who harbors a secret penchant for Western pop culture.
Rather than turning the American flyer in, Nikolai forms a fragile, hilarious truce with the cocky aviator. As the duo navigate a dangerous gauntlet of hostile forces to engineer Troy’s escape, their mismatched partnership evolves into an unexpected bond that neither saw coming.
“The buddy films of the 1980s were a bizarre and enticing blend of humor, danger, and genuine heart,” directors Daley and Goldstein shared during the film’s Comic-Con panel. “Mayday is our ode to this genre... exploring what it means to be patriotic, but ultimately what it means to be human.”
Cast & Characters
Alongside Reynolds and Branagh, Mayday features an impressive international ensemble cast:
Ryan Reynolds as Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly
Kenneth Branagh as Nikolai Ustinov
Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)
Marcin Dorociński (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, The Queen’s Gambit)
David Morse (The Green Mile, The Hurt Locker)
Production & How to Watch
Produced by Skydance Media and Reynolds’ Maximum Effort banner, Mayday brings together high-concept action choreography with witty, rapid-fire dialogue.
Premiere Date: Mayday debuts globally on Friday, September 4, 2026.
Where to Watch: Streaming exclusively on Apple TV.
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