‘The Uprising’ Trailer Brings Wat Tyler’s Rebellion to Life
Paul Greengrass's fourteenth-century-set historical drama looks epic.
The first trailer for director Paul Greengrass’s (Captain Phillips) historical epic The Uprising has arrived, and looks poised to bring one of medieval England’s most dramatic stories to life. Audiences might not actually be aware of this fact, since the film’s trailer and marketing materials are surprisingly cagey about both its setting and its characters. There’s some vague “inspired by a true story” language, but neither the king nor the unnamed Ploughman fighting back against his soldiers is technically named at any point. But it seems fairly obvious that the titular Uprising is the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, and star Andrew Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven) is almost certainly playing the rebel leader known as Wat Tyler.
The first great popular rebellion in English history, the Peasants’ Revolt came about in response to a variety of grim and frequently intertwined socio-economic circumstances. England is still reeling from the widespread impact of the Black Death nearly fifty years prior, which killed somewhere around half of the country’s population and left the surviving laborers with increased leverage when it came to their compensation. The poor are suffering under continued high taxes as a result of the still-ongoing Hundred Years’ War. Add in a growing proto-Protestant Christian sect known as the Lollards, which preached a radical egalitarianism that appealed to those who already hated the corrupt elites of Richard II’s court, and you have the perfect recipe for revolt.
Tyler, on whom Garfield’s Ploughman is almost certainly based, emerged as the leader of the Kentish rebels and led a group from Canterbury to London to oppose the collection of a poll tax and demand other economic reforms. (One has to assume that the unnamed religious figure Garfield’s character is chatting with on the road is rebel priest John Ball.)
Tyler and the rebellion initially enjoyed considerable (albeit ultimately brief) success. They razed the Savoy Palace, which belonged to their hated enemy John of Gaunt, stormed the Tower of London, and secured a meeting with the young King Richard II to argue for their demands. Unfortunately, Tyler was badly wounded by officers loyal to King Richard during the negotiations at Smithfield and was ultimately beheaded. In the wake of his death, his followers were driven from London, and the king revoked all the concessions he had previously granted.
Colloquially, the event would come to be known as the Great Rising or Wat Tyler’s Rebellion, given that the word “peasant” wouldn’t even exist until the 15th century. But its long-tail impact was enormous, greatly weakening the feudal system, damaging the Plantagenet dynasty, and forcing the government to abandon the hated poll tax. It would also inspire other popular uprisings, such as Jack Cade’s rebellion nearly a century later.
Here’s the film’s synopsis.
Andrew Garfield stars as the legendary leader of a ferocious rebellion against the tyranny of King Richard II. As war burns across England, he forms an army of the people to face the King’s might in a fight for justice and survival.
Alongside Garfield, the film also stars a bevy of faces familiar to Anglophiles, including Jamie Bell (Half Man), Stephen Dillane (Sherwood), Tom Hollander (The Iris Affair), Cosmo Jarvis (Shogun), Thomasin McKenzie (Fackham Hall), Jonny Lee Miller (The Crown), Woody Norman (Poldark), Katherine Waterston (The Agency), and Sky Yang (Rebel Moon).
The film is written and directed by Greengrass, who also produces alongside Gregory Goodman and Joanna Kaye. Also producing are Jason Blum for Blumhouse, Lars Sylvest for Thank You Pictures, and Joe Neurauter for Supernix.
The Uprising will premiere in theaters on Friday, September 11, 2026.
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