Cillian Murphy’s Forgotten Thriller With 50 Shades Star Lands on Netflix

If you like your WWII movies tense, loaded with underdog heroics, and starring some heavy hitters, you might want to mark your calendar: 'Anthropoid' is about to hit Netflix.

What is 'Anthropoid'? And Why Haven't More People Heard About It?

So here's the gist: 'Anthropoid' is a 2016 political thriller that digs into one of those almost-unbelievable true stories that somehow hasn’t been mined for blockbuster after blockbuster. It’s set in Prague in 1942, when two Czech soldiers decided to take out one of the highest-ranking Nazis – Reinhard Heydrich, a man so brutal his nickname was literally 'The Butcher of Prague.' Not exactly a cheery setup, but definitely fertile ground for suspense.

The movie is directed by Sean Ellis, who co-wrote it with Anthony Frewin. It takes a very focused look at the build-up to the assassination attempt, which was codenamed 'Operation Anthropoid.' The whole mission is a logistical nightmare—planning, paranoia, desperation, betrayal—basically everything you could ask for in a thriller.

Who's Starring?

This is one of those 'wait, that cast?!' movies, headlined by:

• Cillian Murphy as Jozef Gabcik (you know him from 'Peaky Blinders' and, more recently, 'Oppenheimer')
• Jamie Dornan as Jan Kubis (that’s right, the guy from 'Fifty Shades of Grey')
• Charlotte Le Bon as Marie
• Anna Geislerova as Lenka
• Detlef Bothe as Reinhard Heydrich

There are a handful of others in the mix, but the action really comes down to Murphy and Dornan, who – if you’re counting – have played a nuclear scientist and a brooding billionaire respectively, so this is a bit of a change of pace.

How Did It Do?

Here's the surprising part: even with a true-life plot that intense and a killer cast, 'Anthropoid' barely made a ripple at the box office. It was put out by indie studios (Icon Film Distribution for Europe and Bleecker Street for the US), and its theatrical run was...honestly, pretty quiet. It pulled in just over $5.2 million worldwide. With those stars, you’d expect more buzz, but sometimes movies just slip through the cracks.

Critically, though, 'Anthropoid' did OK for itself:

Rotten Tomatoes: 67% from critics, 71% from audiences
IMDb: 7.2/10, from over 59,000 user ratings

People dug the suspense and performances, even if it never quite hit mainstream radar. If you like slow-burn war movies or you’re a Murphy completist, this should absolutely be on your list.

'A gripping retelling of a true story that’s stranger (and braver) than fiction.'

When and Where to Watch

'Anthropoid' lands on Netflix (US) on June 4, 2026. It's among a batch of new arrivals; if you’re curious, other titles dropping around the same time include 'The Girl on the Train,' 'Lawmen: Bass Reeves,' and 'Another Round.'

Final Word

If you slept on 'Anthropoid' the first time, this is your nudge to give it a shot. If nothing else, you get to watch Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan try to change the tide of WWII with nerves of steel, some Czech resistance allies, and a plan that seems impossible on paper. Sometimes Netflix really does dig up the stuff you missed in theaters.