Weapons: June Diane Raphael is in Barbarian director’s next horror film

A couple of months ago, it was announced that June Diane Raphael, who may be best known for playing the character Brianna Hanson for the 94 episodes that make up the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, which ran for seven seasons, is set to star in a TV series reimagining of the classic sitcom Bewitched for Sony Pictures Television. It has also been revealed (via Deadline) that Raphael has been cast in the mysterious horror project called Weapons, the new film from Barbarian (watch it HERE) writer/director Zach Cregger.

Details on the character Raphael will be playing haven’t been revealed, but we do know she’ll be sharing the screen with Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Julia Garner (Ozark), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives). At one point, Pedro Pascal of The Last of Us was set to star in the film with and Renate Reinsve of The Worst Person in the World. Pascal had to leave the project so he could star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe reboot of Fantastic Four instead, and it appears that Reinsve followed him out the door.

Most details about Weapons are shrouded in mystery. It has been said that it’s “an interrelated, multistory horror epic” that’s tonally in the vein of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, and The Hollywood Reporter adds that the story revolves around the disappearance of high schoolers in a small town.

Cregger wrote the Weapons screenplay and will be directing the film. He’s also producing it with Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures.

Last year, New Line Cinema went all-in on a partnership with Cregger and Barbarian’s producers at BoulderLight Pictures. New Line came out the winner in a bidding war over Weapons, which they’re planning to give a theatrical release date on January 16, 2026.

New Line Cinema is paying Cregger a sum in the eight figure range to make this movie. When they won the bidding war over the rights, New Line’s president and CCO Richard Brener released the following statement: “Zach proved with Barbarian that he can create a visceral theatrical experience for audiences and that he commands every tool in the filmmaker toolbelt. We couldn’t be happier that he, Roy [Lee] and Miri [Yoon], and J.D. [Lifshitz]and Rafi [Margules] chose New Line to be the home of his next film, and hope it is the first of many to come.“

In addition to working with them on Weapons, New Line signed a first look deal with BoulderLight Pictures, tasking the company with developing high concept genre projects for them, and they gave a greenlight to the sci-fi thriller Companion, produced by BoulderLight and Cregger. That film will be reaching theatres a full year ahead of Weapons.

Are you looking forward to Weapons? What do you think of June Diane Raphael joining the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.