Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Companion (2025)

While Companion relies largely on another tour-de-force turn from Sophie Thatcher, Lukas Gage’s pivotal supporting role proves that Smile 2 wasted the emerging actor. Despite all of Companion’s brutal deaths, the satirical sci-fi thriller is surprisingly moving at times. Sophie Thatcher’s Iris might be a robot, but she makes for a compelling protagonist, and her attempts to escape her lethally enтιтled owner Josh are thrilling, chilling, and darkly funny.

After Companion reveals Iris is a robot, the character’s humanity ironically starts to shine through even more than before. The lack of ease she feels in social situations, her intense bond with the seemingly uncaring Josh, and the barely concealed hostility that Josh’s friend Cat has toward her are all re-contextualized and, by the time Iris is being blamed for Sergei’s death, she is the most sympathetic character in Companion. However, Companion’s ending arguably changes this as a supporting star ends up stealing the show.

Companion’s Patrick Proves Smile 2 Wasted Lukas Gage

Gage’s Unnerving Robotic Companion Goes Through A World of Emotions

First seen in Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and ᴀssᴀssination Nation, Lukas Gage rose to prominence thanks to supporting roles in Euphoria, Love, Victor, You, American Vandal, and The White Lotus. His supporting roles in How to Blow Up a Pipeline and Road House amplified his star power, but it is his role in Companion that proves Gage is a star in the making. Playing Eli’s outdated companion Patrick, Gage is called on to go through a major emotional journey while still never coming across as entirely human.

Patrick goes from a tender, caring boyfriend to a stone-cold killer, and back as he is introduced as Eli’s companion and later jailbroken by a desperate Josh. Companion’s robots are attached to their owner by a “Love link,” established by a pre-programmed imaginary meet cute that makes the companion believe it is uniquely emotionally bonded with this owner. In early scenes, Patrick seems like a genuinely sweet, compᴀssionate romantic partner, and he expresses what seems like real love for Eli. When Josh jailbreaks him to hunt down Iris, he becomes an implacable killer more akin to the T-800 than Iris.

Smile 2 Gave Companion’s Lukas Gage A Smaller Role

Gage Played The Curse’s Victim Lewis In The Sequel

Gage’s role in Companion gives the emerging star a lot to do in relatively limited screen time, as he goes from being Eli’s affectionate partner to Josh’s hitman. It is hard to believe that the unfeeling Patrick who dispᴀssionately kills Cat is the same character as Eli’s sweet love interest, and Gage’s complex role gets even thornier when Iris reminds him of his original owner. Overwhelmed by the grief of losing Eli, Patrick goes through a flurry of emotions before finally giving up on his existence.

Although the $138 million horror hit also featured a supporting role for the actor, Smile 2’s story didn’t give Gage anywhere near as much to do with his screen time. As the small-time drug dealer, Lewis Fregoli, Gage eschews the usual machismo of movie dealers and instead plays the character as a wheedling, surprisingly sympathetic figure. Gage’s desperate Lewis is truly unsettling in his death scene, but he barely has a chance to make an impression on viewers as his role is limited to two scenes.

The dazzling single-sH๏τ opening sequence of Smile 2 is too busy following Kyle Gallner’s short-lived Smile survivor Joel to focus on Gage’s Lewis, who barely appears in the scene. The next time viewers see him, Lewis is already succumbing to the curse. This results in one of the sequel’s creepiest scenes when Lewis transforms from an eager-to-impress, sycophantic dealer into a grinning, blank, and unspeaking personification of the Smile franchise’s demonic monster.

What’s Next For Companion’s Lukas Gage

Gage Will Soon Appear In Rosebush Pruning and Love Language

This scene is genuinely scary, but it proves that Smile 2 wasted Gage, whereas Companion put his talents to good use. Fortunately, viewers who enjoyed his turn in director Drew Hancock’s sci-fi thriller won’t need to wait long before seeing more from the star. Although his Netflix show ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Boy Detectives was canceled after one season in 2024, Gage will soon appear in director Karim Aïnouz’s Rosebush Pruning. This dramatic thriller, co-starring Riley Keough, Pamela Anderson, and Elle Fanning, is an adaptation of 1965’s Fists in the Pocket.

After that, Gage will co-star alongside Chloe Grace Murex, Isabel May, Billie Lourd, Anthony Ramos, and Manny Jacinto in the ensemble romantic comedy Love Language. Directed by After Everything’s Joey Power, this rom-com boasts a buzzy cast and will hopefully provide Gage with another substantial role. Companion’s Patrick proves that, although his Smile 2 role criminally underutilized the actor, Gage is a star on the rise who viewers should watch out for going forward.