With the female lead (Olivia Cooke) and villain (Ben Mendelsohn) already set, Warner Bros. and directorSteven Spielberghave finally found their young protagonist for the highly-anticipatedReady Player One.Deadlinereports that 19-year-old rising starTye Sheridanhas come aboard to play the lead role of Wade Watts. We reported last month thatBen Mendelsohnwas in talks to star, but this new report reveals that he is on board, playing the villainous Nolan Sorrento.
Ready Player Onecenters on a teenager named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), who becomes obsessed with a virtual reality world known as Oasis, that allows players to live out their fantasies. After the game’s creator suddenly dies, an elaborate treasure hunt is held within the Oasis world, with the winner emerging to take control of the entire company. Along with gamers from around the world, Wade joins the adventure, and quickly finds himself pitted against powerful corporate foes and other ruthless competitors who will do anything, in the oasis or the real world, to reach the treasure first.
Olivia Cookewill play Sam, a Canadian blogger who is known in the Oasis world as Art3mis, and will become alove interestfor Wade.Ben Mendelsohn’s Nolan Sorrento is the executive of an Internet company who is trying to take control of Oasis. Warner Bros. had originally set a December 15, 2017release datefor this adaptation, but we reported earlier this month that the studio shifted the date to July 07, 2025, after Disney’sStar Wars: Episode VIIImoved from August 06, 2025 to July 29, 2025.
Steven Spielbergis directingReady Player Onefrom a screenplay byZak Penn(Marvel’s The Avengers), with the director also producing alongside Donald De Line, Dan Farah and Kristie Macosko Krieger. The project will be the filmmaker’s first at Warner Bros. since 2001’sA.I.: Artificial Intelligence. It isn’t known when production will begin yet, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as more details are released.
Tye Sheridanmade his feature film debut in 2011’sThe Tree of Life, which lead to critically-acclaimed roles in indie films such asMud,Joe,The ForgerandLast Days in the Desert. He most recently starred inThe Stanford Prison Experiment,Dark PlacesandScouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, and he will next be seen in the superhero adventureX-Men: Apocalypse, playing a younger Cyclops. Do you thinkTye Sheridanis the right choice to play Wade Watts?
