Kristen Stewart Can’t Freely Work in the U.S. — Here’s Why

Kristen Stewart is not exactly feeling the home-court advantage right now. In a new chat with The Times, she says she probably will not be working in the United States going forward, at least not long-term. The plan instead: make her movies elsewhere and still aim them squarely at American audiences. Given her career zigzags from blockbusters to tiny, thorny indies, that tracks.

What she said

"Probably not." [on whether she has long-term plans to work in the U.S.]

"I can’t work freely there... I’d like to make movies in Europe and then shove them down the throat of the American people."

"Reality is breaking completely under Trump. But we should take a page out of his book and create the reality we want to live in."

Why she is looking abroad

Stewart points to the current climate in the States, including former President Donald Trump’s stated idea of imposing tariffs on the film industry. She says the environment makes it hard for her to work the way she wants. That is not just hypothetical: she shot her feature debut, The Chronology of Water, in Latvia and says pulling it off here would have been impossible.

Where her filmmaking is at right now

After a run of music videos and her 2017 short Come Swim, Stewart finally directed her first feature in 2025. The Chronology of Water stars Imogen Poots as Lidia Yuknavitch and, by all accounts, critics loved it. The film began a limited theatrical rollout on January 9, 2026.

• 2017: Directs short film Come Swim
• 2025: Feature directorial debut with The Chronology of Water (shot in Latvia)
• 2026: Limited theatrical release begins January 9

How she frames it

She is not swearing off American audiences, just American production. The idea is to keep making films wherever she can make them the way she wants and still get them in front of U.S. viewers. As she put it, movies are how she processes the world. Or, in her words: she is always asking herself, 'How are we going to make that into a movie?'