“Not a single one of my films has ever been released without some change in its release date,” Parasite director Bong Joon Ho told Screen Daily earlier this month, and it appears his latest off-the-wall feature, Mickey 17, is no different. After getting delayed several times, Mickey 17 comes to theaters on April 18, 2025, but not before the film’s latest trailer teases the sci-fi adventure to come.

The official synopsis for Mickey 17 reads: “From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience, “Mickey 17.” The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.” In addition to Robert Pattinson as the various Mickeys, the film also stars Steve Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie. It is based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, with Bong Joon-ho writing the script and directing.

Today’s Mickey 17 trailer finds Robert Pattinson doing some vocal gymnastics to give his character a unique voice. With a folksy cadence, Mickey applies to become an “Expendable.” However, he fails to read the fine print and soon gets reprinted to perform one dangerous task after the next. When Mickey discovers two versions of himself are running rampant, he needs to decide which one will stay while the other must go. Unfortunately for Mickey, the people in charge of the reprints are also aware of the error and won’t hesitate to delete one or the other Mickey without prejudice.

Just last month, the MPA Classification and Rating Administration gave Mickey 17 an R-rating for “violent content, language throughout, sexual content and drug material.” We catch a little of this in today’s trailer, as Mickey meets his end in several gruesome accidents ranging from getting limbs sliced off by space debris and getting devoured by space aliens.

I’m excited about this one. I’ve been on a science-fiction kick lately after catching up with Silo on Apple TV+ and starting my first watch of The Expanse. I adore Bong Joon Ho’s warped mind and can’t wait to see what he’s cooking with Mickey 17.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.