Bill Skarsgård's war drama 'The Mosquito Bowl' drops first trailer ahead of Netflix debut
Netflix has released the first trailer for ‘The Mosquito Bowl,’ Peter Berg’s World War II drama starring Bill Skarsgård and Nicholas Galitzine. The film follows four college football stars who, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, left their athletic careers behind and enlisted in the Marines.
The trailer moves between football fields, Marine training camps, and the Pacific battlefield. It shows the four men adjusting to military life as they prepare for the invasion of Okinawa. The film also explores the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood formed amid the war.
The story follows John McLaughry, Bob Baumann, Tony Butkovich, and David Schreiner. The four men rank among America's top college football players before World War II changes their lives. Nicholas Galitzine plays John McLaughry, while Bill Skarsgård portrays Bob Baumann. Ray Nicholson plays Tony Butkovich, and Tom Francis plays David Schreiner. The film builds toward the real-life Mosquito Bowl, a football game played by service members before the Battle of Okinawa. The game brought together several notable players shortly before they entered combat.
The movie draws from Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger's nonfiction book ‘The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II.’ Brent Comer, Dominic Bogart, Jack Ingram, and Ella Newton round out the cast. Netflix lists Comer and Bogart among the film's main cast alongside the four leads.
Peter Berg directed the movie and co-wrote the screenplay with Mark L. Smith, and produced the film with Brian Grazer and Alex Gayner. The production was filmed across Australia, with Queensland and northern New South Wales standing in for locations associated with the Marine training grounds and the Pacific Theater.
Galitzine gained wider attention with ‘Purple Hearts’ before starring in ‘Red, White & Royal Blue,’ and ‘The Idea of You.’ He later took the lead in the Starz miniseries ‘Mary & George.’ Skarsgård became widely known for playing Pennywise in ‘It’ and ‘It Chapter Two.’ He later appeared in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4,’ ‘Barbarian,’ and ‘Nosferatu.’ Berg has directed several films based on real events and military stories.
His credits include ‘Lone Survivor,’ ‘Deepwater Horizon,’ and ‘Patriots Day.’ The cast spent months training and filming the military sequences. ‘The Mosquito Bowl’ will open in select theaters on October 30, 2026. Netflix will release the film globally on November 25, 2026.
