Exploring the Sci-Fi Drama "Klara and the Sun": Cast, Plot, and Production Insights
Ethan Hayes
Published May 16, 2026
By Published Apr 13, 2026, 10:53 PM EDT Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2026, became a news writer in 2026, a senior staff writer in 2026, and an editor in 2026. follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
Jenna Ortega leaves Nevermore Academy behind for a dystopian world in .
In the film based on Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro's bestselling 2026 book of the same name, Ortega plays Klara, an artificially intelligent robot companion designed to make life easier and less lonely for humans in a dystopian society. Klara is purchased by Chrissie (Amy Adams), the mother of the teenage Josie (Mia Tharia), and the story follows the friendship between Klara and Josie. directed the project and co-wrote the screenplay with Dahvi Waller.
Now, the first Klara and the Sun footage has been revealed during the Sony Pictures Entertainment panel at CinemaCon, where ScreenRant was in attendance. Nicole Brown, the president of TriStar Pictures, also shared during the presentation that Ortega's performance in the film, which comes to theaters on October 23, is "extraordinary." Check out a description of the footage below:
People standing still, frozen in time. Futuristic world with robots hoping to be chosen. Ortega meets Josie and is taken home. Klara is amazed by things big and small, even stairs. Klara is warned not to dig too deep into the house secrets and is threatened to be sent back to the store. Klara says she wants to heal the family and save them from darkness and certain doom.
Particularly for those who have not read the source material by Ishiguro, the footage description brings to mind M3GAN, the hit sci-fi horror comedy film, in which the titular character is also an artificially intelligent robot companion brought home to help combat loneliness. While there are unsettling elements in the book, as teased by Klara's interactions in the footage description, it does not overtly belong to the horror genre in the way does.
The Klara and the Sun novel is told through Klara's point of view, which is brought to the forefront in the footage through her amazement at everything the world has to offer, including stairs and other things that are often taken for granted. Being told not to look into the house's secrets and being threatened with being sent back to the store teases the power imbalance in the relationship with the human family. Nevertheless, she is still committed to healing them as best she can.
As for the actors joining Ortega, Adams, and Tharia in Klara and the Sun, it is an impressive cast that includes Natasha Lyonne, Steve Buscemi, and Simon Baker. The movie reunites Ortega and Buscemi after they both starred in , with Ortega as Wednesday Addams and Buscemi as Barry Dort, the new head of Nevermore Academy. Production is currently underway for season 3 of the popular series.
Ortega is a veteran when it comes to horror and the supernatural at this point between Wednesday, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Scream and Scream VI, X, The Babysitter: Killer Queen, and Death of a Unicorn. She has not done as much in science fiction, with voicing Brooklynn in the animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous series being a notable exception. Klara and the Sun not only puts her in science fiction, but gives her the acting challenge of portraying a robot as the protagonist of a thought-provoking story,
Klara and the Sun comes to theaters on October 23.
Cast
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Klara -
The Mother -
Mia Tharia Josie -
Natasha Lyonne Manager
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