Focus Features has upended the marketing for Paul Greengrass’ “The Uprising” just weeks before its release, confirming that Andrew Garfield’s previously unnamed lead character is in fact Robin Hood, transforming what had been sold as a gritty historical drama about England’s 1381 Peasants’ Revolt into an origin story for one of literature’s most enduring outlaws.
The studio unveiled the reveal on social media, updating the film’s synopsis to describe it as set against the true events of the uprising that helped inspire the Robin Hood legend, with Garfield’s character forming an army of commoners to confront King Richard II. Until this week, Garfield’s role had been billed only as “the Ploughman,” a peasant who loses his family to plague before leading a revolt over crushing taxation, appearing alongside Cosmo Jarvis as the real historical rebel Wat Tyler.
The shift has puzzled fans and critics alike, given that all previous marketing, festival material and interviews made no mention of Robin Hood whatsoever. Focus Features’ own website still lists the film simply as “The Uprising” with the tagline “Rise or die,” even as the studio’s social accounts now promote it under an unofficial subtitle, “The Rise of Robin Hood.” Director Paul Greengrass has described the film to press as a rip-roaring adventure that carries a message without being heavy-handed, and has pointed to William Langland’s 14th-century poem “Piers Plowman” as a partial inspiration for the character’s arc.
The late-stage rebrand also invites comparisons to another 2026 release, “The Death of Robin Hood,” Michael Sarnoski’s A24 drama starring Hugh Jackman as an aging, disillusioned version of the outlaw. That film underperformed at the box office, grossing under $9 million against a reported $20 million budget, raising questions about whether audience appetite exists for a second Robin Hood story in the same year.
“The Uprising” has had a winding path to the screen. Originally developed under the title “The Hood” with Benedict Cumberbatch attached, the project was later retitled “The Rage” when Matthew McConaughey briefly boarded it, before Garfield replaced him and the film took its current name last fall. The ensemble includes Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Thomasin McKenzie, Jonny Lee Miller and Katherine Waterston, with Jason Blum producing through Blumhouse alongside Greengrass. The film arrives in U.S. theaters Sept. 11, marking Garfield’s second of three releases this year following “The Magic Faraway Tree.”
