Bugonia Cast Revealed: Who’s Who In Emma Stone’s Mind-Bending Conspiracy Thriller
Bugonia turns paranoia into pitch-black hilarity as Emma Stone is condemned by a zealot convinced she’s an alien ready to wipe out the world. Audacious, unpredictable, and wonderfully weird, it’s the kind of curveball that keeps you guessing.
If you like your comedies a little mean and a lot unpredictable, Bugonia looks like your next weird little obsession. The premise is delightfully deranged: a beekeeper becomes convinced a powerful CEO is an alien out to wipe us all out, so he kidnaps her to save the planet. The Venice premiere crowd ate it up, the film is sitting at a 90% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it genuinely plays better if you go in not knowing too much. That said, here is what you should know before buying a ticket.
The setup
Emma Stone plays Michelle Fuller, the very composed, very dangerous-sounding head of a major pharmaceutical company. Two true believers grab her: Teddy (Jesse Plemons), an earnest-to-a-fault beekeeper, and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Teddy is so deep into his theory that he shaves Michelle’s head so she can’t, in his mind, phone her alien mothership. She, meanwhile, does not exactly cower. The trailers tease a possible connection between her and her abductors that the movie is clearly saving for later, and I’m not spoiling that here even if I could.
Stone, Lanthimos, and a very different vibe
Yes, Stone is back in dark-comedy mode with director Yorgos Lanthimos after winning the 2024 Best Actress Oscar for Poor Things. If Bella Baxter was all wide-eyed discovery and knee-length wigs, Michelle Fuller is the opposite: bald, calculating, and ready to go to war. Fun bit of context: Bugonia is an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s cult South Korean film Save the Green Planet! We’ll see how closely this version sticks to that blueprint. Stone is also a producer here, which usually means she is all-in on the material.
Early buzz (and a little skepticism)
Out of Venice, critics praised the sharp banter, the finale, and the overall snap of the storytelling. There is also a chorus saying it tilts more style than substance and calling it a lesser Stone/Lanthimos pairing. Either way, the word-of-mouth is strong enough that this feels like a theater play, not a wait-for-streaming situation.
Who is who
- Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller — The pharma CEO at the center of the storm. Stone, fresh off Poor Things (and La La Land, Cruella, Easy A), went full bald for this one and produces the film.
- Jesse Plemons as Teddy — A beekeeper who is utterly convinced Michelle is an alien threat. Yes, he shaves her head to block the supposed mothership. Plemons, a Friday Night Lights alum, was Oscar-nominated for The Power of the Dog and you probably remember him from Breaking Bad.
- Aidan Delbis as Don — Teddy’s cousin and fellow conspiracist, riding shotgun on the kidnapping. This is Delbis’s feature debut, and he looks like a strong foil for Plemons.
- J. Carmen Galindez Barrera as Ricky / Security Guard — A Mexico-based creator who acts, models, and does theater. Bugonia is his first feature, with Geezers and Thicker Than Water on deck.
- Vanessa Eng as Corey — Likely someone in Michelle’s orbit (assistant or colleague). Eng previously popped up in short films Apricity (as Amala) and Bi-Nocular Panic (as Melody).
- Cedric Dumornay as Chris — A TV/shorts regular (Blindspotting, Let’s Be Real) working since 2010; Bugonia is his first full-length feature.
- Alicia Silverstone as Sandy — Teddy’s mother. Silverstone needs no intro: Clueless, Batman & Robin, Blast from the Past, Excess Baggage, and recently the series Irish Blood.
- Stavros Halkias as Casey — A local cop. The comic/multi-hyphenate has popped up as Chip Harper in Let’s Start a Cult, Dave Louvopolis in Tires, and most recently Mr. Megaman in Dance Freak.
- Momma Cherri as Tina — Credited as Charita 'Momma Cherri' Jones, you may remember her from Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, The Nightly Show, and Market Kitchen. This marks her film debut.
- Fredricka Whitfield as Herself — The CNN anchor plays, well, the CNN anchor. She is an Emmy-winning journalist, so expect a credible news-presence cameo.
Release plan
Bugonia opens in US theaters on October 24, 2025. If the trailers are any indication, this is the kind of pitch-black, go-for-broke comedy that plays best with an audience.