While Alan Ritchson has had a successful acting career, he’s truly burst onto the scene in recent years, becoming a mainstream megastar in the action genre.
He’s become the face of the Reacher series, joined the Fast & Furious franchise in 2023 as Agent Aimes in Fast X, and starred in thriller movies such as Motor City (2025) and the recently released Runner (2026), alongside Owen Wilson.
Yet another of his 2026 films has made history. War Machine, which arrived on Netflix in March, has become a massive streaming success.
Directed by Patrick Hughes, the film took over the platform, pulling in well over 139 million views, and currently ranks as Netflix’s No. 10 most-watched original movie of all time.
The film was such a major success that Netflix announced in June that a sequel was in development.
A sequel to War Machine is now in development!
The military thriller is officially one of Netflix’s top 10 most popular movies of all time. pic.twitter.com/ZowkBbHK3t— Netflix (@netflix) June 2, 2026
What Is War Machine’s Movie Plot?
The sci-fi action thriller stars Ritchson alongside a talented cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Jai Courtney, Blake Richardson, and Alex King.
The Rotten Tomatoes movie description reads, “During the final stage of US Army Ranger selection, an elite team’s training exercise turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat.”
The film holds a 66% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.3 out of 10 rating on IMDb, based on more than 123,000 user ratings.
Ritchson Says War Machine Was Physically Demanding
In a March interview with The Hollywood Reporter around the film’s release, Ritchson revealed that War Machine pushed him harder physically than any role he’d taken on before.
“It was hard. I’m not going to lie, this was the most I’ve ever been pushed physically, and it was the most I’ve ever doubted my own ability to finish,” Ritchson said.
Related: ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson Wows in Viral Clip of Him Singing Michael Jackson Hit
