Gareth Evans’ explosive new action thriller movie Havoc, which stars Tom Hardy in its lead role, is one of Netflix’s biggest feature-length releases of 2025 so far, but it took a while to land on the platform. Havoc is the pᴀssion project of Evans himself, who also wrote the script and co-produced the movie alongside Hardy, Aram Tertzakian and Ed Talfan. It’s a project that’s been at least four years in the making, with the time it’s taken to produce Havoc unusually long for a Netflix action flick.

The movie’s release has faced successive delays. Given when filming originally wrapped up for the production, Havoc was supposed to have been available to stream on Netflix years before April 2025. However, Gareth Evans is known for his meticulous attention to detail as a director, and his approach necessitated additional shooting days which were difficult for the cast of Havoc to schedule, particularly in the case of Hollywood megastar Hardy.

Havoc Was Announced & Filmed In 2021

Filming Originally Wrapped In October 2021

Soon after Havoc and Hardy’s leading role in it were first announced in February 2021, as part of Gareth Evans’ exclusive production deal with Netflix, the movie began shooting in the summer of that year. It was clearly a project that the director had already had in the works for some time, and filming was originally completed on October 22, 2021. It seemed as though Havoc might even be in line for a release on Netflix some time in 2022.

In the end, though, the scheduling of the movie’s release proved to be far more complicated, and fans of Evans’ previous work had to wait almost three more years to see it. As ScreenRant’s review of Havoc alludes to, it’s the director’s first action thriller movie released in more than a decade, despite this genre being the one for which he’s received the most recognition and acclaim. He may have been busy shooting Gangs of London season 3 in the meantime, but this other project doesn’t explain such a lengthy delay.

Havoc’s Delay Was Caused By The Hollywood Labor Strikes & A Need For Reshoots

Gareth Evans Faced Difficulties Arranging The Reshoots Because Of The Strikes And Tom Hardy’s Schedule

In fact, Havoc’s release window was pushed back because Evans decided he was unhappy with the film during post-production, and tried to arrange reshoots with the cast. These reshoots proved very difficult to organize, especially given Tom Hardy’s busy schedule shooting The Bikeriders and Venom: The Last Dance. Evans needed a lot of extra hours from his cast to capture precisely the vision he wanted for his movie, with Hardy comparing his method to Christopher Nolan in a recent interview.

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Unfortunately for Evans, his decision to refilm parts of Havoc also coincided with the 118-day SAG-AFTRA strike, which ruled out reshoots of the movie until 2024. They finally took place in July 2024, with actor Justin Cornwall stating on the Double Toasted Podcast that Havoc was set for a January 2025 release. In an Instagram post, Evans explained that the delays had been caused by “scheduling issues, strikes and more scheduling issues” but suggested they were now in the past.

Still, there was time for an additional post-production delay, with the movie release window eventually confirmed for Q2 2025. Havoc’s trailer dropped in February, and it’s now reached Netflix 30 months after principal pH๏τography first wrapped.

Source: Double Toasted Podcast