The Uprising arrives in U.S. theatres with Andrew Garfield at the centre of Paul Greengrass’ new historical drama, a film rooted in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt in England. Garfield plays an unnamed labourer known only as the Ploughman, who becomes involved in the growing rebellion against England’s ruling elite. The story also has an unusual link to the origins of Robin Hood, although this is not a conventional Robin Hood movie.
Set against a period of deep poverty, political tension and social unrest, the film follows the Ploughman as ordinary people challenge a system that has left them with little power. That historical setting gives Greengrass room to explore how anger can spread through a society, while the Robin Hood connection adds another layer to a story about people resisting authority.
The film’s journey to cinemas has also been unusual. Focus Features briefly marketed it under the expanded title The Uprising: The Rise of Robin Hood, suggesting a more direct connection to the legendary outlaw than the film itself makes. The subtitle was later withdrawn after the campaign generated confusion and backlash, making the episode an unexpected part of the film’s public identity before release.
The marketing situation was further complicated by a difference between the U.S. and UK campaigns. The film’s UK distributor publicly distanced itself from the Robin Hood branding, making clear that the movie should not simply be understood as a Robin Hood origin story. That distinction matters because Greengrass is using medieval history to examine the conditions that helped create such legends, rather than retelling one.
The film also reached Garfield after a long period of development and changes in its creative plans. It was originally developed as The Rage and was associated with Benedict Cumberbatch. After Cumberbatch departed, Matthew McConaughey became attached to the lead role in 2025, but he later left the project. Garfield eventually took over as the Ploughman, giving the production its final lead.
Greengrass also pursued a physical approach to the period setting. The production used more than 5,000 extras and created detailed medieval environments across locations in Germany and England. The scale was intended to make the uprising feel like a real movement of people rather than a small action staged against artificial backgrounds. The result supports the film’s grounded, mud-and-blood visual style.
The story’s historical setting was also shaped by Greengrass’ experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has explained that the period of mass death and social disruption made him think about how societies respond to fear, loss and economic pressure. The film therefore uses the 1381 revolt to examine anger toward distant elites, social division and the feeling that ordinary people are being ignored.
One of the film’s most important literary clues is the Ploughman’s name, or lack of one. The character connects to William Langland’s medieval poem Piers Plowman, which is associated with one of the earliest written references to Robin Hood. That link helps explain why the film approaches the legend indirectly: it is interested in the historical world from which stories of rebellious outlaws could emerge.
With its theatrical release, The Uprising brings together history, literature and modern concerns without presenting itself as a standard Robin Hood adaptation. Garfield’s Ploughman stands at the centre of that approach, while Greengrass uses the past to ask questions about power, inequality and public anger that remain familiar today.
The result is a historical drama whose story reaches beyond its medieval setting. Rather than placing a familiar historical figure at the centre of the period story, The Uprising asks how an ordinary person can become part of a much larger moment of change in English history and popular memory.
Read More:
