Alexander Rudynsky, star of *The First Swallows*, is set to appear in Netflix’s *Gundam*
Netflix Tudum has announced this.
Production has begun in Queensland, Australia, on the feature film “Gundam”, which will be an adaptation of the multimedia franchise of the same name. Ukrainian actor Oleksandr Rudynskyi has joined the cast of the project.
The film is directed by Jim Mickle. The lead roles in the film will be played by Sydney Sweeney and Noah Centineo.
The cast also includes Jackson White, Kutsuna Shiori, Nonso Anozie, Michael Mando, Javon Walton, Oleksandr Rudynskyi, Ida Brook, Gemma Chua-Tran and Jason Isaacs.
The film will tell a new story about mech pilots, whose conflict unfolds against the backdrop of a long-running war between Earth and its former space colonies.
The film will be released on Netflix. Legendary Pictures is producing in partnership with Bandai Namco Filmworks. The producers are Jim Mickle and his partner Linda Moran through Nightshade, as well as Kale Boiter, Ali Mendez, Sydney Sweeney, Noah Centineo and Enzo Mark. Matthew Jenkins, Makoto Asanuma and Naohiro Ogata are listed as executive producers.
What is known about “Gundam”
“Gundam” is one of the longest-running active media franchises in the history of anime. It encompasses over 50 series, anime and feature films created by Sunrise Studio, as well as video games, books and manga series.
The franchise’s key features are its science-fiction setting, the theme of war, and mecha – large combat robots of various designs. It was their design in the late 1970s that became one of the factors behind the revolution in the genre following the release of the first series, Mobile Suit Gundam, in 1979–1980.
As of 2026, the franchise is wholly owned by Bandai Namco Holdings through its subsidiary Bandai Namco Filmworks. By 2000, Gundam had generated over $5 billion in retail sales. From April to June 2025, the franchise generated approximately $443 million in intellectual property-related revenue through streaming, model kits, cinema releases and experiential tourism initiatives.
What is known about Oleksandr Rudynskyi
Oleksandr Rudynskyi is a Ukrainian theatre and film actor. He was born in Mykolaiv; after school, he enrolled at the theatre university in Kyiv and graduated from Dmytro Bogomazov’s workshop at the Ivan Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television.
In 2018, Rudynskyi joined the company of the Ivan Franko National Drama Theatre. There, he performs in Dmytro Bogomazov’s productions of “Sing, Lolo, Sing” and “The Career of Arturo Ui”, as well as in Ivan Uryvskyi’s productions of “Peer Gynt” and “Caligula”.
One of his first film roles was in the film “11 Children from Morshyn” directed by Arkadiy Nepitalyuk. In 2019, he played the lead role in the TV series “The First Swallows”.
“Gundam” is not the actor’s first involvement in an American project. In 2024, the series “The Decameron”, inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s collection of novellas, was released on Netflix, in which Rudynskyi played a one-eyed bandit. The Ukrainian actor can be seen in three episodes of this series.
As reported by ThePublic, director Vilen Novak, who worked at the film studio for over 50 years, has died in Odessa
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