''Descendent'' is an upcoming American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

thriller film written and directed by Peter Cilella, and produced by filmmaking duo

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead Justin Benson (born June 9, 1983) and Aaron Scott Moorhead (born March 3, 1987) are an American filmmaking duo. Both have served in directing, producing, editing, and acting roles in their projects, while Moorhead is also a cinematographer and ...

. Starring Ross Marquand and

Sarah Bolger Sarah Lee Bolger (born 28 February 1991) is an Irish actress. She starred in the films '' In America'' (2003), '' Stormbreaker'' (2006), ''The Spiderwick Chronicles'' (2008), '' The Moth Diaries'' (2011), '' The Lazarus Effect'' (2015), '' Emelie ...

, the film premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

on March 10, 2025.

Premise

Sean Bruner, a school security guard in Los Angeles, struggles with childhood trauma while he and his wife, Andrea, prepare for the birth of their first child. One night during his shift, a mysterious beam of light appears in the sky, and he later wakes up in a hospital with abilities of "creating vivid, unsettling drawings of extraterrestrials and desert landscapes".

Cast

Production

''Descendent'' was written and directed by Peter Cilella in his feature directorial debut. Ross Marquand and

was cast in the leading roles. It was financed by Highland Film Group and produced by

, David Lawson Jr, and Caleb Ward of Rustic Films. Under the shooting title of ''Josiah Road'',

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

look place on location in Los Angeles from January to February 2023.

Release

The film was acquired by

RLJE Films RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...

for US distribution prior to its world premiere at the

2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival The 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival took place from March 7–15 at several venues in Austin, Texas, as part of the larger South by Southwest annual event. The festival opened with the film '' Another Simple Favor'' and the debut of t ...

on March 10.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 90% of 10 critics' reviews are positive.

References

External links

* {{Imdb title 2025 science fiction films 2020s English-language films 2020s science fiction thriller films English-language science fiction thriller films American science fiction thriller films 2020s American films