Obsession's breakout has signed up for a Waffle House film with killer crocodiles and aliens
Apple Original Films’ sci‑fi thriller The Waffle House Index has tapped its lead — and you’ll want to see who’s fronting it.
File this under films you didn’t know you needed: Inde Navarrette (yes, her from Obsession) is headlining a new Apple Original Films sci-fi thriller with a title that honestly sounds like someone lost a bet at a pitch meeting. It’s called The Waffle House Index, and make no mistake—this might be one of the most gloriously bonkers setups in recent memory.
The Waffle House Index refers to an actually existing metric where people judge how bad a hurricane is by seeing if the local Waffle House has shut its doors—if they’re closed, you know things are properly sideways.
A Plot That Escalates Quickly
The film stars Navarrette as a Waffle House waitress slogging through a shift that’s apparently cursed from the start. Things spiral from there: a punter with a gun barges in, weather chaos erupts, there’s a "mass flood," and then—somehow—killer crocodiles, a nuclear explosion, a secret magical bunker beneath the restaurant, and, because why the hell not, aliens turn up as well.
- The script is by Andrew Nunnelly, who you might have clocked from the 2025 Black List (that annual rundown of the best unproduced screenplays knocking around Hollywood)
- Louis Paxton is on directing duty—his film The Incomer just nabbed the Sundance NEXT Innovator Award and is heading into cinemas this month
- Brad Pitt’s Plan B (yes, that Brad Pitt, and his producing mates Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner) are the main studio muscle behind it, following their recent run with Apple on F1
Navarrette’s Hot Streak
If this feels like a flex for Navarrette, fair enough—she’s coming off the back of Obsession, which made a ridiculous $505 million worldwide on about $750,000 (i.e. the kind of profit margin that gives studio execs heart palpitations). Her work in that film has landed her square in the middle of this year’s awards season mess, with Focus Features reportedly putting together a genuine Oscar campaign—Best Actress for her, plus Best Director, Screenplay, and Editing nods being chased for director Curry Barker as well.
The rest of her CV is getting stacked too. She did a turn in the final run of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, and popped up on Superman & Lois over on The CW. Now, she’s attached to play Rogue in Marvel’s X-Men reboot, which is about as big as these things get at the moment. Not content with just starring, she’s also executive producing The Waffle House Index, making this her first gig on that side of the camera.
Obsession smashed the worldwide box office with over $505 million in takings from a budget south of a million dollars.
As for when you’ll get to see The Waffle House Index, that’s still a mystery—Apple hasn’t coughed up a release date just yet.