First teaser trailer for Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film released

Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is a sci-fi comedy film that stars Emma Stone as a high-powered CEO rumored to be an alien. Jesse Plemons plays one of the men convinced that she is intent on destroying the planet. They both appear in the film's first promotional teaser, which takes us back to Lanthimos's absurdist cinematic style.

Here's the teaser trailer for reference:

Yorgos Lanthimos, one of the key figures of the Greek Weird Wave, has continued working in its distinct style even in Hollywood, and Bugonia doesn't seem like an exception. The film shows him bringing back his brand of dark comedy and surrealism, paired with an eerie sound design that is enough to creep out the best of us.

The trailer doesn't reveal anything concrete apart from a series of brief clips that give us a hint of what the film is about. It introduces Plemons as a beekeeper who breaks into a lavish house.

Stone's CEO leads a cushy life, while Plemons seems frustrated with his life as a worker. Some moments show him taping his windows to stop any light from entering his house, while others show Stone beating someone (or something) up. Everything about the trailer felt intentionally ambiguous. We'll know more when the film arrives in theaters.

Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons' Bugonia is one of the most anticipated films of 2025.

Jesse Plemons in Bugonia (Image via YouTube/@Focus Features)

After Jason Statham took his turn playing a peace-loving beekeeper, it's Jesse Plemons' turn to do the same. Yet, he doesn't seem like a 'peace lover' either. Instead, he seemingly invites chaos with his conspiracy theories about his female boss, as he equates his struggle as a cog in the machine to the bees attracted to the pollen of a queen bee like her.

Bugonia feels like a typical Yorgos Lanthimos film that offers another black comedic and potentially cynical outlook about the state of the world through the characters going through an identity crisis. It's not clear whether Michelle (Stone) is an alien or not, but Teddy (Plemons) seems confident that she is. So, he seems to be a classic conspiracy theorist, but there must be more to it than what meets the eye.

A still from Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia (Image via YouTube/@Focus Features)

The film serves as an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan's South Korean film, Save the Green Planet! (2003). The original film follows a traumatized young man who kidnaps the Korean leaders, believing they are aliens who will destroy the Earth. One of these leaders was the head of a chemical production company. Yorgos Lanthimos' film takes this whimsical, eco-politically charged narrative and places it in a Western setting with a script from Will Tracy (Succession, The Menu).

Yorgos Lanthimos seems like an ideal filmmaker to offer a new take on the story.

"Kinds Of Kindness" New York Premiere (Image via Getty)

The 2003 Korean-language film was a critical success, and Yorgos Lanthimos' adaptation seems well on its way to being the same, considering his track record. The Greek filmmaker has been nominated for the Academy Awards for his English-language films like Poor Things (2024), The Favourite (2019), and The Lobster (2017). His most recent project, Kinds of Kindness (2024), premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, earning Plemons the award for Best Actor.

Bugonia shows Yorgos Lanthimos reuniting with Stone and Plemons. The remaining cast includes Aidan Delbis, Alicia Silverstone, Stavros Halkias, and more. The film is scheduled to be released on October 24, 2025.