What’s in this guide
Jenna Ortega has played a lot of unusual characters, but this might be her strangest and sweetest: a solar-powered robot girl in a shop window, hoping the right family chooses her. Klara and the Sun is Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s bestselling novel, with Amy Adams as the mother who buys Klara for her sick daughter. It opens in theaters on October 23, 2026. This guide covers the release date, the trailer, the full cast, where to watch it, and the big questions readers of the book keep asking, including how the story ends.
Klara and the Sun Release Date
Klara and the Sun will be released in US theaters on Friday, October 23, 2026, by Sony Pictures Releasing through Columbia Pictures. It is a theatrical release, with no same-day streaming. The film premieres first at the BFI London Film Festival on October 15, 2026, and also screens at the Rome Film Festival before opening weekend.
The film runs 116 minutes and is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence, and strong language. It was shot in New Zealand, in Wanaka and Auckland, under the working title Tears and Rain.
Klara and the Sun Trailer
Watch the official trailer for Klara and the Sun below. It introduces Klara in the shop, watching the world through the window and drawing power from the Sun she worships, then follows her home with Josie and her mother Chrissie, where the film’s real question forms: what does a machine owe the girl she was bought to love, and what does she believe she must sacrifice for her?
What Is Klara and the Sun About?
The story is set in a near future where wealthy children are genetically edited, a process called being “lifted,” to make them smarter, while children who are not lifted are shut out of the best schools and futures. Josie is a lifted teenager, and the editing has left her seriously ill. Her mother Chrissie buys her an Artificial Friend, a companion android named Klara, to keep her company.
Klara runs on sunlight, and she believes the Sun is a living being who nourishes her. When Josie starts to fade, Klara makes a secret bargain with the Sun to save her.
Klara is not a normal robot. She watches people closely, reads their feelings better than they read each other, and takes her job completely seriously. Through her eyes we see Josie’s friendship with Rick, the unlifted boy next door, her fraught relationship with her mother, and a family carrying a loss it does not talk about. As Josie’s illness worsens, Klara decides the Sun can heal her, if Klara first destroys the polluting machine she believes is the Sun’s enemy. Whether her faith is real or a program running on hope is the question the whole film hangs on.
Is Klara and the Sun Based on a Book?
Yes. Klara and the Sun adapts Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel of the same name, a New York Times bestseller by the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. Ishiguro is an executive producer on the film, and the screenplay is by Dahvi Waller and director Taika Waititi, so the story comes with its author’s blessing built in.
The novel is told entirely in Klara’s voice, and it became a book-club favorite partly because its ending lands so quietly and so hard. If you are searching for what happens to Josie, what the Cootings Machine is, and how the story ends, the FAQ below answers all three from the book, with spoiler warnings where they belong. The film can still change details, and we will update this guide once it opens.
Cast and Crew
Cast photos: TMDB
Jenna Ortega leads as Klara, and it is a genuine change of register from Wednesday: Klara is hopeful, devoted, and quietly funny in ways she does not understand. Amy Adams plays Chrissie, a mother running on work, worry, and guilt, with newcomer Mia Tharia as Josie and Aran Murphy as Rick, the best friend shut out of the lifted world. Natasha Lyonne runs the shop where Klara waits to be chosen, Rachel House plays the housekeeper Melania, and Steve Buscemi rounds out the ensemble. Behind the camera, Taika Waititi directs, David Heyman (the Harry Potter films) produces, and Michael Giacchino provides the score, his fourth film with Waititi. One piece of trivia for the credits-watchers: Simon Baker filmed scenes as Josie’s father Paul, but his part was cut from the finished film.
Where to Watch Klara and the Sun
At launch, the only way to watch Klara and the Sun is in a theater. Sony Pictures opens it exclusively in cinemas from October 23, 2026, and it is not streaming anywhere yet.
No streaming date has been announced. Sony’s films stream first on Netflix under Sony’s pay-one deal, so Klara and the Sun is expected to reach Netflix sometime in 2027 after its theatrical run. We will update this guide the moment the date is official.
Klara and the Sun FAQ
When does Klara and the Sun come out?
Klara and the Sun opens in US theaters on Friday, October 23, 2026, released by Sony Pictures. It premieres earlier at the BFI London Film Festival on October 15, 2026.
What is Klara and the Sun about?
In a future where rich children are genetically “lifted” at a cost to their health, a sick teenager named Josie is given an android companion, Klara. Klara, who runs on sunlight, becomes devoted to Josie and makes a secret bargain with the Sun to cure her.
Is Klara and the Sun based on a book?
Yes, it adapts Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel of the same name. Ishiguro, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, is also an executive producer on the film.
Who stars in Klara and the Sun?
Jenna Ortega plays Klara, with Amy Adams as Chrissie, Mia Tharia as Josie, Aran Murphy as Rick, Natasha Lyonne as the Store Manager, and Steve Buscemi in the ensemble. Taika Waititi directs.
Does Josie die in Klara and the Sun?
Spoiler warning for the novel: No. In Ishiguro’s book, Josie recovers from her illness and grows up, eventually leaving for college. The film follows the same story, though it may adjust details, and this answer will be confirmed once the film opens.
How does Klara and the Sun end?
Spoiler warning for the novel: Josie survives and grows up, and Klara, no longer needed, is sent to a yard for retired Artificial Friends. Fading but at peace, she spends her days sorting her memories of Josie and the Sun. It is a gentle ending, and a sad one.
What is the Cootings Machine in Klara and the Sun?
In the novel, the Cootings Machine is a road-repair machine that pours out thick pollution. Klara believes it is the Sun’s great enemy, so she sabotages it as her side of her bargain with the Sun, draining her own precious fluid to do it and weakening herself in the process.
Where can I watch Klara and the Sun?
Only in theaters from October 23, 2026. It is not streaming yet. Sony films stream first on Netflix under Sony’s pay-one deal, so a Netflix release is expected in 2027, but no date has been announced.
October is stacked this year. If Klara is your emotional pick, the same month has a very different kind of devotion on screen: a son who will not leave the one place his father is gone, inside the whale that took them both apart, in Whalefall 2026, in theaters October 16. We will update this page with reviews, box office results, and the streaming date as they land.
