🌍🛸Bugonia (2025): Yorgos Lanthimos Unleashes a Darkly Comic Alien Conspiracy – Plot, Cast, Release Date & Where to Watch

Cinema’s strangest provocateur, Yorgos Lanthimos, is back—and this time, he’s reaching for the cosmos. Bugonia (2025), a science fiction black comedy, brings together paranoia, absurdity, and alien terror into a story that blurs the line between reality and delusion. Starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, the film is set to release in theaters on October 24, 2025, following its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.

With echoes of The Favourite’s biting satire and Poor Things’ surreal vision, Lanthimos reimagines the cult South Korean masterpiece Save the Green Planet! into something at once familiar and radically new.

👁️ The Premise: Paranoia Meets the Apocalypse

The story follows Teddy (Jesse Plemons), a conspiracy-obsessed beekeeper, and Don (Aidan Delbis), his equally unhinged partner. Convinced that the powerful pharmaceutical CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is not only corrupt but a literal alien sent to destroy Earth, they kidnap her.

“Sometimes the only way to save the world… is to burn it down,” Teddy mutters, echoing the kind of twisted logic that drives the film.

As the lines between truth and madness unravel, Bugonia explores whether the real threat lies with aliens—or with humanity’s own dangerous delusions.

🌌 The Cast: A Collision of Power and Paranoia

• Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller, the CEO who may—or may not—be an alien overlord.

• Jesse Plemons as Teddy, the beekeeper conspiracist.

• Aidan Delbis as Don, Teddy’s partner in paranoia.

• Stavros Halkias as Casey.

• Alicia Silverstone as Sandy.

The reunion of Stone and Lanthimos is already sparking Oscar whispers, while Plemons’ unsettling intensity feels tailor-made for Lanthimos’ dark, absurdist universe.

🎥 Behind the Madness: A Lanthimos Vision

Originally conceived in 2020, Bugonia changed hands before landing with Lanthimos, who brought his signature blend of surrealism and sharp commentary. Written by Will Tracy (Succession), and produced by Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), the film is the result of an astonishing creative collision.

Shot across England and Greece, with Robbie Ryan behind the camera, the visuals promise to match Lanthimos’ hauntingly offbeat style—equal parts beautiful and disturbing.

🏆 Festival Buzz and Release

Bugonia premiered in the main competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (August 28, 2025), where it instantly divided audiences—exactly the Lanthimos effect. Some called it “an apocalyptic comedy for our times,” while

others were shaken by its unrelenting absurdity.

Now, with its October 24, 2025 theatrical release under Focus Features, the film is set to test whether mainstream audiences are ready for a sci-fi that’s equal parts dark humor, political satire, and existential horror.

📺 Where to Watch Bugonia

Bugonia will be released only in theaters on October 24, 2025, distributed by Focus Features in the United States and Universal Pictures International globally.

Streaming details have not been officially confirmed yet, but given Focus Features’ track record, the film is expected to arrive later on Peacock in the U.S. after its theatrical run, and likely on Prime Video or other international streaming platforms.

For now, the only way to experience Lanthimos’ latest surreal masterpiece is on the big screen.

🌍 Why Bugonia Matters

At its heart, the film isn’t just about aliens. It’s about fear—fear of power, fear of collapse, fear of truth itself. By pushing its characters into paranoia’s abyss, Bugonia dares us to ask: Who do we trust when the world already feels like it’s ending?

With Emma Stone’s icy ambiguity, Jesse Plemons’ intensity, and Lanthimos’ surreal gaze, this could become one of 2025’s most unforgettable films.

⭐ Bugonia lands only in theaters on October 24, 2025.

“Saving the planet might just destroy us all.”