Everything We Know about Disclosure Day: Josh O’Connor in Spielberg UFO Movie (2026)

For the “real ones,” the debate over whether Steven Spielberg has “dropped off” was settled years ago. From the visceral tension of Munich to the deeply moving The Fabelmans, the master has never truly left his throne. However, there is no denying that we have been waiting for the return of the “Event Spielberg”—the director who invented the summer blockbuster and turned the sky into a canvas of cosmic mystery.

On June 12, 2026, that wait ends. Disclosure Day is coming.

While details were initially kept under a “JJ Abrams-style” shroud of secrecy, the recent trailer drop and marketing blitz have provided enough breadcrumbs for a deep dive. At the heart of this storm is Josh O’Connor, an actor currently in the midst of a “generational run” that is about to hit escape velocity.

The Logline: A Challenge to Seven Billion People

The film’s central thesis is posed as a chilling question: “If you found out we weren’t alone—if someone showed you, proved it to you—would that frighten you?”

Unlike the intimate desert meetings of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Disclosure Day (written by Jurassic Park scribe David Koepp) explores a global reckoning. The marketing tagline, “The truth belongs to seven billion people,” suggests a story that considers the psychological and societal fallout of government disclosure.

Josh O’Connor: The Whistleblower at the Center

In a move that speaks volumes about his current industry standing, Josh O’Connor was reportedly offered his role in Disclosure Day without an audition. Spielberg simply told him the story and asked if he’d like to do it.

Following his scene-stealing turn as Father Jud in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, O’Connor appears to play a whistleblower or activist determined to force the truth into the light. In the teaser, his character insists that the secret of extraterrestrial life is a global right, not a state secret. By positioning O’Connor—the master of “physical” and “repressed” performances—against a backdrop of cosmic revelation, Spielberg is clearly leaning into the actor’s ability to ground high-concept sci-fi in raw human emotion.

Disclosure Day Trailer

Emily Blunt and the “Language of the Others”

Opposite O’Connor is Emily Blunt, playing a Kansas City meteorologist. The trailer features a standout, viral moment where Blunt’s live weather broadcast is hijacked by a series of otherworldly clicks and guttural sounds coming from her own mouth. Is she a medium? A victim of possession? Or is the “Disclosure” happening through the very people we trust to tell us about our world?

The “Future Human” Theory

Cinephiles and Reddit theorists have already noted a strange mathematical “error” in the trailer: O’Connor’s character says the truth belongs to “seven billion people,” yet the Earth’s population in 2026 is over eight billion.

This has reignited a theory Spielberg himself teased in a 2023 interview with Stephen Colbert: that UAPs aren’t aliens from another galaxy, but “us 500,000 years into the future.” If they are time-traveling anthropologists, the “missing billion” in O’Connor’s dialogue might be the key to the film’s biggest twist.

A Technical Throwback

With Janusz Kamiński on cinematography and John Williams returning for his 30th collaboration with Spielberg, Disclosure Day looks and sounds like “Old School Spielberg.” The use of heavy Christian iconography (cardinals, nuns) and strange animal behavior (deer in bedrooms) suggests a film that is as interested in the spiritual and natural world as it is in high-tech saucers.

Why Disclosure Day is the Must-Watch of 2026

Supported by an ensemble that includes Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and Eve Hewson, Disclosure Day feels like the ultimate alchemy of a blockbuster: a massive marketing campaign (including those cryptic “All Will Be Disclosed” billboards in Times Square) paired with the intellectual curiosity of our greatest living filmmaker.

For Josh O’Connor, this isn’t just another role; it’s the coronation of a new Hollywood GOAT.