Way of the Warrior Kid Trailer: Chris Pratt Heads a Jocko Willink Adaptation on Apple TV

Apple Original Films has released the trailer for Way of the Warrior Kid, and the film looks like it's aiming for more than the usual family-adventure beats. Director McG is working from a screenplay by Will Staples, and the story comes from the bestselling novel by former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink. Apple says the film arrives globally on Apple TV on November 25, 2026.

A training camp disguised as a summer visit

The premise is simple on paper. Marc, played by Jude Hill, is a decent kid who gets picked on at middle school and feels behind in classes, in gym, and in just making friends. Then his Uncle Jake, played by Chris Pratt, arrives to recover from an injury and stays for the summer with Marc and his mom, Sarah, played by Linda Cardellini.

Jake is a decorated Navy SEAL, and he decides the best way to help Marc is to build a program around his own training. He calls it "Operation Warrior Kid." The twist is that Jake isn't trying to turn his nephew into a fighter. Apple's description frames the plan as a lesson in what real courage looks like, and it notes that Jake has his own demons to face along the way. That's the part I'd watch for. Coming-of-age stories built around a mentor usually succeed or fail on whether the adult's own arc feels earned, and a wounded veteran using a bootcamp to work through his problems gives the film a lot of material to work with.

Pratt's casting carries obvious weight here. He has spent much of his career in action-comedy territory, and a role that leans on physical discipline and quiet emotional restraint would be a different register for him. Whether the trailer's tone holds up across a full feature is the open question.

Who's behind it

The cast also includes Ava Torres, Levi McConaughey, Darien Sills-Evans, Carl McDowell, Parker Young, and others. Willink appears in the film alongside Pratt, Cardellini, and Hill, which gives the book's author a direct stake in how his material is put on screen.

On the production side, the film is an Apple Original Film by Skydance. Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger produce, alongside McG and Mary Viola for Wonderland Sound, Pratt for Indivisible Productions, Ben Everard for Everard Entertainment, Bruce Wayne Gillies, and Willink himself. Staples, Steven Bello, and Cliff Lanning are executive producers. McG's credits include Charlie's Angels and Terminator Salvation, and Staples has written Without Remorse and The Right Stuff. Those are useful reference points if you're trying to guess how much action the film will carry compared with its quieter family material.

Where and how to watch

The film is set to stream on Apple TV, which Apple says is available in the Apple TV app in more than 100 countries and regions. Apple lists support for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, a range of smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, and TCL, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Subscribers can also use the web version at tv.apple.com.

Apple lists the service at $14.99 per month, with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. That's the price to plan around if you're weighing whether a single film justifies a subscription, or whether you already pay for the service and will simply add it to your watch list. If you're on a tight budget, the trial window gives you a way to see the film without committing to a full month.

What Apple TV's pitch tells you, and what it doesn't

Apple describes Apple TV as a home for drama, comedy, feature films, documentaries, and kids and family programming. The company also points to a long list of awards and nominations across its originals, naming shows such as Ted Lasso, Severance, and Pluribus, and films such as CODA and F1. Those are Apple's own claims, and they tell you more about the company's marketing than about how Way of the Warrior Kid will play. The better test is the trailer itself, and the film's first few scenes once it lands.

What matters for a viewer is the family-drama side of the catalog. Apple has been building out kids and family titles, and a film like this one, aimed at a teenage audience but built around a grown-up veteran's story, is a sign of where that programming is heading. Watch whether the film's lessons about courage land without turning preachy, because that's the usual trap for this kind of story.

My read

I'm cautiously interested. The premise avoids the easiest version of a military-themed family film, where the kid simply learns to punch back. Making the uncle's own struggle part of the lesson gives Pratt and Hill something more textured to play. If the script keeps that balance, this could be one of the better-suited titles for a family movie night in late November. If the trailer's cheerier moments take over, it'll read as a standard bullying-to-confidence story.

Either way, the date is set: November 25, 2026, on Apple TV. If you're planning a subscription around it, that's the window to mark on your calendar.