Watch Alex Garland, Joseph Quinn, and Charles Melton break down the tense experience of filming ‘Warfare’

Civil War director Alex Garland returns to the battlefield in 2025 with Warfare, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Ray Mendoza.

Mendoza, an Iraq War veteran, served as Garland’s military advisor for Civil War. During the process of filming Civil War, the two talked about making Warfare, based on Mendoza’s own experiences.

“It’s about a group of young SEALs in Iraq conducting an overwatch mission. In doing so, they came upon contact,” Mendoza says in the first look above. “[The film is about] them having to come together and figure out a plan to get to safety.”

Warfare plays out in real-time. “Reality doesn’t let people off the hook,” Garland says of the decision in the first look.

The first look also features interviews from the film’s cast, including D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn, and Cosmo Jarvis. They discuss the three-week SEAL bootcamp they attended before filming, as well as the film’s personal connection to Mendoza, played by Woon-A-Tai in the film.

As Garland, Mendoza, and the actors discuss in the first look, Mendoza made Warfare for fellow veteran Elliot Miller (Jarvis), who was on the operation depicted in the film but does not recall it.

“It’s just a love letter from Ray to Elliot,” Melton says.

Warfare hits theaters Apr. 11.