The film unfolds in real time from the moment the title card appears. From that instant on, the running time corresponds to the mission's actual duration.
Warfare is a heartfelt tribute from director Ray Mendoza to Elliott Miller, who, following the traumatic events of the Ramadi Operation, does not recall what happened to him.
The film draws on the recollections of every SEAL team member who was present during the operation. Each scene was corroborated by at least two of the SEALs interviewed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland.
After filming Warfare, the entire cast, including Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Cosmo Jarvis and Kit Connor, had matching tattoos. The inscription reads 'call on me', a nod to a scene in the film and the sense of brotherhood they forged while filming.
Warfare was shot in chronological order across a five-week period.
The names of the real SEAL team members were altered for the film to protect their identities, as some remain in service with the armed forces or chose to stay anonymous. The only names kept unchanged in the film are Ray Mendoza and Elliott Miller.
That SEALs are depicted in US Army digital camouflage is not unusual — it is common for SEALs to wear specific camo patterns to blend with allied forces and attract less attention. For the Battle of Ramadi, SEAL Team 3 — Task Unit Bruiser — who took part in the same engagement and were in rotation with SEAL Team 5, wore those uniforms to match US Army soldiers and were consequently nicknamed 'Army SEALs' owing to the horrors and acts of heroism they'd both endured.
The film contains no musical score. Its only pieces of music appear in the opening sequence ("Call on Me" by Eric Prydz) and over the end credits ("Dancing and Blood" by Low).
The cast were not chosen through auditions; instead they were selected after interviews conducted by directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza. The two directors were primarily seeking the right attitude in each performer, recognising that the filming would be arduous and would demand that actors push themselves both mentally and physically.
This is the first big-budget studio picture to portray the Battle of Ramadi, a clash frequently compared with Fallujah as one of the bloodiest engagements of the Iraq conflict. Estimates place the number of enemy fighters at around four to five thousand, whilst the SEAL Team Five element comprised roughly forty personnel.
To ensure the cast could respond to authentic-sounding effects, large speakers were installed around the "house" set to play noises such as dogs barking and other ambient sounds.
At the outset, Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza considered casting military professionals rather than actors to achieve greater authenticity. They later realised the production required highly technical performances within a compressed shooting schedule, so they turned to experienced actors instead.
Whilst filming the sequence in which Ray pulled Elliott back into the house after his devastating IED injuries, Ray Mendoza was deeply affected. He was moved by the scene's accuracy and by the real Elliott Miller's poignant reaction on set. Consequently, Alex Garland assumed full directorial responsibility for that sequence.
Michael Gandolfini's father, James Gandolfini, worked with the Wounded Warrior Project, travelling to Iraq and Afghanistan to meet serving personnel and veterans. Through that initiative, James Gandolfini sent watches to injured soldiers, among them Joe Hildebrand (credited as Sam in the film) and Elliott Miller. Michael Gandolfini did not learn of this until Elliott Miller visited the Warfare set and showed him a photograph of the watch he had been given.
Whilst filming, the cast gave each other nicknames: Will Poulter — Daddy, Kit Connor — Babyface, Joseph Quinn — Funcle, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai — Dozer, Finn Bennett — Spud, Evan Holtzman — Cowboy, Cosmo Jarvis — Booger, Taylor John Smith — Lamb Bone, Michael Gandolfini — Gandalf and Charles Melton — Top.
D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai takes on the role of director Ray Mendoza in the film.
Members of the SEAL team involved in the mission attended the set to meet the actors portraying them and to answer questions. Joe Hildebrand (portrayed by Joseph Quinn) and Elliott Miller (portrayed by Cosmo Jarvis) were both present and watched their on-screen counterparts on a monitor during many of the medically harrowing scenes.
Jocko Willink commanded Task Force Bruiser. Following his retirement, Willink became a best-selling author, podcast host and leadership consultant, frequently drawing on his experiences with Task Force Bruiser to impart lessons on leadership.
As depicted in the film, the song 'Call on Me' served as the pump-up anthem for SEAL Team 5. It was particularly popular amongst units in 2006.
Due to their leadership positions within the production, Will Poulter, Charles Melton and Joseph Quinn were appointed as leaders among the cast to recreate the real team's dynamic. They were charged with ensuring the cast were punctual and understood which pages of the script were scheduled to be filmed each day, among other responsibilities. The cast even had to seek Will Poulter's permission to use the toilet while filming.
Less than two days after that mission, the platoon of Navy SEALs — excluding Elliott and Sam (Joe Hildebrand) — were dispatched on another operation.
Elliott Miller (played by Cosmo Jarvis) was the team's medic. His initial unconsciousness increased the team's confusion and helped cause a delay in administering morphine to Elliott and Sam.
The concept for the film emerged while Civil War (2024) was being edited. Alex Garland aimed to craft a war film as authentic as possible that would unfold in real time. After seeing Ray Mendoza stage the White House action sequence in Civil War (2024), he realised Ray was the ideal person to help bring this vision to life. Garland asked Ray if he had a story he wanted to tell, and Ray said he had long harboured a project he hoped to make. Before sharing it with Garland and committing to the production of Warfare (2025), Ray first sought the approval of his SEAL team-mates.
The smoke released by the IED blast was laden with phosphorus. As a result, the real-life Navy SEALs were affected; Erik in particular almost lost his voice. The phosphorus in the air burned the lining of his oesophagus. Burning phosphorus also became embedded in Elliott and Sam (Joe Hildebrand), and fragments were removed from their legs days after the incident.
Staying true to the film's ethos, the cast's weapons training was so thorough that if something went wrong during a take — for example, a machine-gun jamming — the performer handling it would know exactly how to drop to a knee and clear the jam, while the rest of the cast carried on firing around them. This level of preparation enabled the performers to react naturally and instinctively throughout filming.
Ray Mendoza said that a number of compounding factors led to OP-1's compromised position; one was that they spent an unusually long time sledging the wall instead of detonating it. They had originally believed that breaking through the wall would be quieter than using explosives, but the sledging took far longer than expected and alerted nearby insurgents.
While filming the scene where Ray struggles to drag Elliott's unconscious body up the drive, Ray Mendoza offered D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai the option of either faking the effort by hauling a dummy of Elliott up the drive or genuinely straining by dragging Cosmo Jarvis. D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai opted to drag Cosmo Jarvis, both of them fully kitted out so the ordeal mirrored Ray's own experience.
This is Alex Garland's first directorial outing not to be lensed by cinematographer Rob Hardy.
Ray Mendoza had long wanted the song 'Call on Me' included in the film. Midway through principal photography he showed the music video to Alex Garland. They were worried audiences might struggle to connect with the characters because the dialogue was largely technical jargon without backstory. They realised that opening the film with a 'Call on Me' sequence would echo Ray's habit of his team listening to the track before missions and would introduce the characters' youth, naivety, interpersonal bonds and sense of brotherhood.
In the film, a smoke-out was employed to prepare for Elliott's CASEVAC. However, the smoke was not deployed far enough and drifted back into the house, creating a choking atmosphere for Alpha One and forcing them to leave the house sooner than they normally would.
The opening scene was filmed in three takes: the first was fairly subdued, the second more energised, and the third all-out. The final edit blends elements of all three, gradually building in intensity to synchronise with the rising rhythm.
Because of a restricted budget, the cast filmed Warfare at a very rapid pace, which resulted in lengthy filming days. For example, they filmed 82 set-ups on the first day of shooting.
There was an opening in the set’s floor that allowed Cosmo Jarvis' actual legs to be concealed. Prosthetic legs were used to portray the severe trauma and injuries to Elliott's legs.
For the duration of the operation, SEAL Team 5’s Eagle’s Nest (a safe area held by friendly forces) lay only 300–400 metres away. However, intense enemy fire and the risk posed by IEDs made it extremely hazardous for the Bradleys to recover the team.
The first Bradley to reach CASEVAC Elliott also sustained casualties from the IED detonation. Its driver was bleeding heavily after shrapnel severed his femoral artery, forcing the Bradley to withdraw from the scene of the blast.
The film's title is deliberate. Both Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland have said that one of their aims was to depict a theatre of war authentically, capturing the universal experience of conflict rather than focusing on any particular war.
All radio communications in the film were performed by the actors themselves, who recorded them live on every take. That approach lent the cast and crew a heightened sense of authenticity.
Joe Hildebrand (played by Joseph Quinn) disclosed that the team had sadly concluded Elliott, who was seriously wounded, was unlikely to survive. Consequently, Ray attended to Sam's injuries while the Marines looked after Elliott.
During filming the cast shared every meal, travelled to set together and were lodged next to one another on the same hotel floors. That closeness strengthened their bond and gave them the same sense of camaraderie experienced by the real SEAL team members.
Ray Mendoza was honoured with the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity displayed during the operation depicted in this film.
This marks Cosmo Jarvis's first time working with Alex Garland since Annihilation (2018).
During the training camp, Ray Mendoza set the cast a series of deliberately impossible tasks and drills designed to make them fail, forcing them to rely on one another. Later, when it came time to shoot a demanding scene that required close co‑operation, he would evoke what they had been through together and say, "Remember that exercise — how chaotic it was, how everyone was shouting while you were simply trying to get a straightforward message across? That’s what this scene is like. Draw on that feeling."
Ordinarily OP-1, OP-2 and OP-3 are placed in houses that afford them a line of sight to one another. However, when they arrived at the properties they had pre-selected from satellite imagery, OP-1 chose a different house because the original selection proved unsuitable. As a result, the three OPs were no longer able to provide mutual support.
In preparing for their parts, Will Poulter and Charles Melton paid a visit to the service members they portray at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, both of whom remain on active duty.
Ray Mendoza, a former United States Navy SEAL BUD/S instructor, put the cast through an abridged version of it during their boot camp.
The sole improvised moment in the film came when Joseph Quinn made it rain on his team-mates while they listened to Call on Me. It so perfectly reflected his real-life counterpart, Joe Hildebrand, that Ray Mendoza chose to retain it in the final cut.
Ray Mendoza stated OP-1 had not intended to detonate the claymores. However, owing to the urgent CASEVAC for Elliott, there was no time to retrieve the charges, so they opted to BIP them (detonate them in situ). The claymores had been positioned on the roof of the house close to the external wall, meaning the blasts occurred extremely near the team and produced concussive effects.
Will Poulter's real-life counterpart is anecdotally reported to have donned a Clifford the Big Red Dog costume on a night out in Iraq many years ago. At the wrap party for Warfare, Will Poulter turned up in the outfit and sent a photograph to the Navy SEAL.
The cast of Warfare (2025) were deliberately selected to capture the youthfulness of the actual SEAL team platoon. During filming, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and Kit Connor matched the ages of the SEALs they portrayed — 23 and 20 years old, respectively.
The armoured vehicles portrayed in the film are not genuine M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles; they appear to be mock-ups.
Ordinarily, the Navy SEALs would have taken up positions on the house's roof. However, because the roof's low wall was not high enough to provide cover, neighbouring rooftops were too close and other houses stood higher, OP-1 opted to set up on the second deck instead.
Many of the veterans whom the cast were portraying were present on set and assisted by advising the actors on the exact actions they had taken that day, based on their recollections.
SEAL Team 3 and SEAL Team 5, alongside other units, were among those comprising Task Unit Bruiser during the Battle of Ramadi. The operation portrayed in the film Warfare was undertaken by SEAL Team 5, who had only just relieved SEAL Team 3. At that time SEAL Team 3 was notable for including members such as Jocko Willink, Jonny Kim, Michael Monsoor, Marc Lee and Chris Kyle.
During the shoot, Elliott Miller lodged at the same remote hotel as the Warfare (2025) cast for several weeks. This allowed the cast to forge a rapport with him and emphasised for them how significant the film was to both Ray Mendoza and Elliott.
The Navy SEALs' observation post was located in an area known as Papa 10, a neighbourhood that was the main source of most insurgent activity. This created a considerable risk for the 'bushmasters' tasked with evacuating the SEALs. To reach the SEALs for extraction, the bushmasters had to travel along black routes — roads that had not been cleared and were known to be high‑risk for IEDs.
Having left the Civil War (2024) premiere at South by Southwest, Alex Garland plunged almost immediately into rehearsals for Warfare (2025), allowing himself scarcely a 24-hour respite. The switch from one production to the next was remarkably swift.
This marks the first time Cosmo Jarvis and Taylor John Smith have worked together since Hunter Killer (2018).
Michael Gandolfini's father, James, had a part in Zero Dark Thirty (2012), a film that also examines the war on terror.
OP-1, also referred to as Alpha One, comprised six Navy SEALs and two ANGLICO Marines — Lieutenant McDonald and Sergeant Laerrus.
As the fighting begins, the soldiers confront an enemy who remains largely anonymous. Unlike in most war films, there are very few scenes that show the enemy being visibly struck, still less killed.
The cast rehearsed the scenes as if staging a play, so every movement by the characters remained faithful to their real-life counterparts.
On the day the cast first convened, they made their way to Charles Melton's hotel room, where they shaved one another's heads.
During pre-production and filming, the cast stayed together at Pendley Manor, situated close to Bovingdon Airfield Studios where the film was shot. Although they were permitted to travel to London on some weekends, they mostly chose to remain at the hotel or socialise together in the city.
Will Poulter had earlier collaborated with Kathryn Bigelow on the 2017 docudrama Detroit; Bigelow also directed The Hurt Locker (2008), another film about the Iraq War.
It is the first of Alex Garland's directorial films not to include a musical score by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow.
