Some of the best sci-fi movies are bolstered by their impressive ensemble cast. It’s not rare to find stacked casts in sci-fi genre movies and TV shows, as proven by Gillian Anderson who famously became a household name for playing Dana Scully in The X-Files — a sci-fi TV show with an excellent mystery element. That said, a bigger cast is much trickier to juggle in a feature movie, but if done properly, it can exponentially make the project better.

From Elijah Wood as a kid in Back to the Future II to Mark Hamill in Star Wars, a perfect non-animated action movie for kids to watch, actors getting their first movie role in a sci-fi film isn’t rare. Famous directors like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron often make sci-fi movies with ensemble casts — some of them work with the same actors repeatedly. Regardless if that’s the case or not, some of the best ᴀssembly of on-screen talent are featured on sci-fi films.

10

Sunshine (2007)

Directed by Danny Boyle

Even outside Marvel movies, Chris Evans has been in notable sci-fi movies like Snowpiercer, Don’t Look Up, and Free Guy, which features one of his best surprise movie cameos. His breakthrough performance was in Fantastic Four (2005), and in the same year as its sequel, he starred in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. He plays one of the more significant side characters in the movie, where he is joined by a stellar roster of costars.

The protagonist is played by Cillian Murphy, who had already starred in another Danny Boyle sci-fi movie 3 years earlier, 28 Days Later. H๏τ off supporting roles in Troy and Marie Antoinette, Rose Byrne joined him as a co-lead. Sunshine is one of the more underrated movies in Michelle Yeoh’s filmography, who delivers a compelling performance as a supporting character in the film. Among other notable actors, the movie also features Cliff Curtis, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Benedict Wong. It’s one of the most ridiculously stacked sci-fi horror movies ever made.

9

Prometheus (2012)

Directed by Ridley Scott

The first Alien movie, directed by Ridley Scott, introduced the world to Ellen Ripley, a character who helped reshape sci-fi movie genre expectations as the well-written female action hero lead in a male-dominated genre. So, it’s not surprising that Scott’s return to the franchise after 33 years, during which 5 more movies had been made, would introduce a new female character in a leading role. Played by Noomi Rapace, Elizabeth Shaw is an expert archaeologist with multiple PhDs.

Prometheus also features frequent sci-fi action star Charlize Theron as the acting CEO of Weyland Corp, who steps up to the role in her father’s absence. Michael Fᴀssbender stars as the artificial brother to Theron’s character, who also appears in the sequel Alien: Covenant, the last Alien film Scott directed. Sean Harris, famous for portraying Solomon Lane in the Mission: Impossible franchise, is among the supporting cast. He’s accompanied by Idris Elba, Benedict Wong, Rafe Spall, and Guy Pearce, among others.

8

Megalopolis (2024)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

As one of the greatest directors of all time, Francis Ford Coppola frequently works with stacked casts bustling with talent. His latest movie, Megalopolis, a 2024 flop movie that could become a cult hit in the future, is no exception. It stars Adam Driver in the leading role. He’s a charismatic and enigmatic protagonist for the large-scale epic which Coppola envisioned and made without any studio intervention.

Nathalie Emmanuel, most famous for portraying Missandei in Game of Thrones, and veteran actor Giancarlo Esposito, famous for his role as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad, who recently joined the MCU in Captain America: Brave New World as Sidewinder play major characters in Megalopolis. Another significant role is played by Aubrey Plaza, who fans will know as April Ludgate from Parks & Recreation. Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, and Jason Schwartzman are part of the supporting cast.

7

Asteroid City (2023)

Directed by Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson is a director known for casting incredibly talented ensembles in his films, as the stories he tells often follow multiple protagonists at the same time and are even anthologies in some rare cases. His next movie, set to come out in 2025, The Phoenician Scheme, has a confirmed release date now, and, as usual, features a stellar cast of A-list Hollywood stars. Anderson’s last feature film, Asteroid City, is a surrealistic sci-fi film that follows the lives of various characters who are affected by a world-changing phenomenon.

So, as usual, there are many significant characters, who all, irrespective of their screentime, have relevance in the grand scheme of things. As an actor known for feel-good cinema, it is a surprising fact that Tom Hanks had never been in a Wes Anderson movie until Asteroid City. He was joined by frequent Anderson stars Tilda Swinton and Willem Dafoe in minor roles, and by Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeffrey Wright in major ones. Adrien Brody and Edward Norton, who have also starred in many of Anderson’s films, are present in Asteroid City too.

6

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Directed by James Gunn

The DCU is being led by him now, but before he picked up momentum for DC previously with The Suicide Squad, and recently with the upcoming Superman movie, James Gunn was one of the best directors working in the MCU. Back in 2014, one of the best years in movie history, Gunn directed the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, which inspired a trilogy that he completed in 2023. The cast of Guardians of the Galaxy is ridiculously stacked, even by MCU standards.

As an ensemble film, it follows at least six main characters, including an antagonist and the five members of the тιтular team of Guardians. Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldaña, who recently won an Oscar, play the main leads, Star-Lord and Gamora. Dave Bautista stars as Drax, who starts out as an antagonist and then joins the heroes midway through the film. Lee Pace and Karen Gillan play the main antagonistic characters, and Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel round off the main cast in voiceover roles. John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio del Toro play minor characters.

5

Dune (2021)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

The long-anticipated sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic finally came out last year, featuring one of the best movie costumes of 2024. While a lot of recurring stars were joined by new talents like Austin Butler and Anya Taylor-Joy, the stellar cast was more expected this time. Even though Villeneuve’s movies frequently feature highly talented stars, and Blade Runner 2049 has an incredible ensemble cast as well, the cast of Dune is more stacked than one would ever expect.

Timothée Chalamet plays the main character in the film, along with Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgård, and Josh Brolin in significant roles, some more than others. All of these actors can be considered part of the main cast of Dune. The supporting cast is just as filled with A-listers, like Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, David Dastmalchian, and Chang Chen.

4

Annihilation (2018)

Directed by Alex Garland

Alex Garland’s repertoire is filled with large-scale sci-fi projects, often following a few characters, but telling the story of an entire ensemble of characters in the rare case. Annihilation is uniquely located in both categories. It follows a team of researchers as they venture on a dangerous mission to collect information about an anomaly, but it clearly has a particular main character from among that team, who is played by Natalie Portman.

Featuring a horror movie monster that’s actually nightmare fuel, Annihilation still pays some attention to the side characters as well, who are all played by actors who are famous today. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Gina Rodriguez portray the more important secondary characters in Annihilation. However, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno, and Benedict Wong’s characters, while minor, also affect the story significantly.

3

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Directed by James Cameron

Between The Terminator, a 1980s R-rated movie that will forever be a rewatch favorite , тιтanic, a classic love story, and Aliens, one of the best movie sequels ever, it’s difficult to pick James Cameron’s best film. However, it’s a literal fact that his most successful films have been the two movies he’s made in the Avatar franchise, which is supposed to have at least three more films in the future, one of which is set to come out in 2025.

While the first Avatar movie wowed audiences with its unprecedented VFX and unique blend of CGI and live-action, the second one, along with making more leaps in film technology, took audiences by surprise with its stacked cast. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang returned for the sequel, all reprising their old roles, except Weaver, whose character has been reborn as a Na’vi. The film also features Kate Winslet, Jemaine Clement, and Cliff Curtis.

2

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Directed by Gareth Edwards

Felicity Jones, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role in The Brutalist, made her Star Wars appearance, including a legendary deleted scene we wish would have made it into the film, as the protagonist of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which follows a group of rebels who hatch a plot to steal the Death Star plans. She plays Jyn Erso, the daughter of scientist Galen Erso, played by Mads Mikkelsen.

While Star Wars movies have always featured incredible ensembles, including some surprising A-list actors as stormtroopers, Rogue One is perhaps the movie with the most stacked cast. From Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk to Ben Mendehlson, Forest Whitaker, and Riz Ahmed, the cast of Rogue One is a who’s who in Hollywood. Donnie Yen also appears as a Jedi, lending his martial arts expertise to the special class of warriors.

1

Inception (2010)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Ever since his first studio film, Insomnia, which is a movie that doesn’t get enough love, Christopher Nolan’s projects feature a stacked cast brimming with Hollywood A-listers. The cast of his upcoming The Odyssey is perhaps going to be one of the biggest ensemble casts of all time. Back in 2010, when he made Inception, it also featured one of the biggest ensemble casts ever at that point of time.

Frequent Nolan collaborators Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy are obviously present in Inception. It incidentally features Leonardo DiCaprio’s only role in a Christopher Nolan film. He plays the protagonist haunted by memories of his ᴅᴇᴀᴅ wife, played by Marion Cotillard. DiCaprio’s character leads a team consisting of characters played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy, who’d later both work with Nolan again for The Dark Knight Rises, the latter also playing a role in Dunkirk. Ken Watanabe and Elliot Page close out the main cast of Inception.