Warfare, cowritten and codirected by Alex Garland (Civil War) and Ray Mendoza, is based on the memories of two operations of American Navy SEALs who conducted a mission in Iraq controlled by Al Qaeda in November 2006.
The team was divided into three groups, or operations, in the Ramadi Province with the goal of embedding in an urban residential area under cover of night to conduct surveillance and ensure safe passage of ground forces through the area the following day. Mendoza’s and Garland’s follow-up collaboration to Civil War (2024) immerses viewers directly into the experience these men had.
Read on for the cast of young men who portrayed real NAVY Seal soldiers on the operations in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006(?) and where you may have seen them before.
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D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Ray Mendoza
Image Credit: A24 D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (centered in the photo above) portrays communications officer Ray Mendoza, who co-wrote and directed the film based entirely on his memories.
Woon-A-Tai is most well-known for his portrayal of Bear Smallhill in FX’s Reservation Dogs. He also played Mike in Hell of a Summer (2023), Hank in Beans (2020) and Lucky in Creeped Out.
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Cosmo Jarvis as Elliott Miller
Image Credit: A24 Cosmo Jarvis (Right in the photo above) portrays Elliott Miller, head sniper and medic for Operation 1. Mendoza dedicated the film as a tribute to the real-life Elliot Miller.
Jarvis is known for playing John Blackthorne in Shōgun, Wentworth in Netflix’s Persuasion (2022) and Sebastian in Lady Macbeth (2016) alongside Florence Pugh). He will also star in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey.
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Will Poulter as Eric
Image Credit: A24 Will Poulter (left in the photo above) portrays Eric, one of the Officers in Charge of the first operation.
Poulter has been a frequenter of the box office lately with his A24 creature feature Death of A Unicorn preceding Warfare in theaters as of March 28 and the upcoming book adaptation On Swift Horses in which he stars alongside Daisy-Edgar Jones and Jacob Elordi in theaters starting April 25.
He is also known for playing Kenny Rossmore in We’re the Millers, Gally in The Maze Runner (2014) and Eustace Scrubb in The Chronicals of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).
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Noah Centineo as Brian
Image Credit: A24
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Taylor John Smith as Frank
Image Credit: A24 Taylor John Smith plays sniper Frank.
Smith appeared as Tate Walker in the Hello Sunshine feature film adaptation of Delia Owens’ best-selling novel Where the Crawdads Sing alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones and Harris Dickinson. He also played John Keene in Sharp Objects (2018) and Anthony Keller in Wolves (2016).
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Kit Connor as Tommy
Image Credit: A24 Kit Connor plays gunner Tommy.
Connor is most well known for his role as Nick Nelson in Netflix’s adaptation of the Heartstopper graphic novels. He also just starred alongside Rachel Zegler in Romeo + Juliet on Broadway.
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Charles Melton as Jake Wayne
Charles Melton plays Jake Wayne, Officer in Charge of the second operation.
Melton is known for portraying Reggie Mantle on six seasons of Riverdale and starring as Joe Yoo in Todd Haynes’ film May December (2023). He also appeared as Daniel Jae Ho Bae in The Sun Is Also a Star (2019) adapted from Nicola Yoon’s best-selling book and as Rafe in Bad Boys for Life (2020).
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Joseph Quinn as Sam
Image Credit: Eric Charbonneau/A24 via Getty Images Joseph Quinn’s (centered in the photo above) role of Sam is based on Joe Hildebrand, who was gravely injured during the evacuation.
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Quinn is known for playing Eddie Munson in Season 4 of Netflix’s tentpole series Stranger Things as well as Eric in A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) and Emperor Geta in Gladiator II (2024). He will soon portray Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four: The First Steps (2025) as well as George Harrison in one of the four Beatles biopics from Sam Mendes.
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Michael Candolfini as Lt. MacDonald
Image Credit: A24 Michael Gandolfini plays Lt. MacDonald.
He is known for playing Teenage Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Joey Dwyer in The Deuce and Daniel Blake in Daredevil: Born Again (2025). He also portrayed Howard Bloom in One Love and Beau’s Son in Beau Is Afraid (2023).
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Adain Bradley as Sgt Laerrus
Adain Bradley plays Sgt Laerrus.
He is known for playing Grant in Tarot (2024), JD Stern in Industry (2022), Reese Cadogan in The 100 and Dane Kohler in All American.
Content shared from deadline.com.