Actor George MacKay delivers one of his most demanding performances in the new film “Mission,” which made its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 15, 2026. The movie marks the second collaboration between MacKay and Scottish director Paul Wright, following their 2013 film “For Those in Peril”.
“Mission” tells the story of Dylan, a young Scottish man stuck in a dead-end restaurant job who feels completely disconnected from life. Over the course of one week, Dylan pushes himself into increasingly dangerous situations as he tries to feel something real and find a reason to keep going. The film explores serious themes including mental health struggles, loneliness, and the pressures young men face in modern society.
What ‘Mission’ Is About
Dylan works at an upscale hotel restaurant where he barely gets through each day. He has a crush on his coworker Becky, played by Emma Naomi, but their connection means more to him than it does to her. His only other real contact is with his older sister Claire, played by Rosy McEwen, who appears mostly as a worried voice on the phone.
The film opens with Dylan’s voiceover saying: “When I was seven, I died for four minutes. I’ve spent my life wishing I could feel that way again”. This childhood accident shapes everything he does. Throughout the movie, viewers see flashes of home-video memories showing Dylan and Claire as children, but it’s never clear if these memories are real or imagined.
Dylan’s search for feeling leads him to extreme actions. He breaks a monkey out of the local zoo, attacks a police officer, and explores BDSM experiences. The film shows his struggle between wanting to feel alive and not knowing how to get there without destroying himself.
Director Paul Wright’s Vision for the Film
Director Paul Wright says “Mission” started with a feeling rather than a story.
“For the first time with a film I’ve made, it was kind of tapping into a feeling. More so than plot or story, it was just that feeling that some of us get sometimes of feeling maybe disconnected from the world and feeling you need more. You need something more.”
Wright wanted to explore what happens when people feel numb to modern life. He asks: “How do you feel something when you’ve been kind of numbed to the modern world?” The director drew inspiration from performance artists like Chris Burden and Marina Abramović, as well as Dadaism and alternative music he discovered growing up in a small Scottish village.
For Wright, Dylan’s dangerous behavior comes from a desire for an “all or nothing” existence. “There’s that contrast of what he’s feeling and this desire for sensation, and I think within that it can slide from light to dark quite simply,” Wright explains. “Where do you stop? What’s the limit?”
The director sees the film as pushing toward what he calls the “thin line between transcendence and transgression”. “It becomes a kind of epic within one character: all or nothing, heaven or hell,” he says.
The Unique Way the Film Was Made
“Mission” was made in an unusual way. Wright didn’t start with a full script. Instead, he created a large book of images to show the film’s tone and then set up situations for the actors to work through.
George MacKay says this approach changed how he worked. “Paul made a huge lookbook of images to give a sense of the film tonally, and then there were a series of circumstances and incidents for the characters to be in”.
The actors discovered much of the story while filming. MacKay explains: “[We were] exploring how much of a story or a character we could create by almost making an archive of material, and then have him discover a lot of it in the edit”.
Rosy McEwen found the experience liberating. “You’d have a slight context for the scene — we knew exactly what was happening and what our characters were feeling — [but] there was so much scope to play with,” she says. “The freedom of that I’ve never experienced before. Just not knowing where it was going to go and the options being limitless”.
What Critics Are Saying
Reviews for “Mission” have focused on MacKay’s performance and the film’s intense atmosphere. The Variety review describes the movie as “uncompromisingly downbeat in its portrayal of an aimless Scottish service worker searching not just for a purpose in life, but a reason to live at all”.
The review praises the film’s “abrasive intensity of mood, enforced through jagged editing rhythms and dreamily disorienting archival inserts” that suggest “a troubled mind plagued by intrusive thoughts”. MacKay’s performance is described as “all-in,” with the actor using “jittery body language and an unnervingly directionless gaze” to show his character’s anxiety.
The Guardian’s review notes that the film is “seriously intended” and deals with “a serious, relevant subject: the mental health of young men”. The review points out that Dylan’s inability to go along with a workplace performance review shows “his estrangement from the world”.
Mashable calls MacKay “fearless in Mission,” noting that “fresh off miraculous performances in Rose of Nevada and The End, MacKay truly leans into physicality with Mission”.
Some critics have noted the film’s flaws. The Guardian mentions that some action feels like “drama-school-improv” and the “ambient poetic realism can be shapeless”. The Variety review suggests that while Wright’s filmmaking remains “arresting,” it’s “not altogether surprising”.
The Cast and Production Team
George MacKay leads the cast as Dylan. The actor, known for “1917,” “Femme,” and “Rose of Nevada,” has become one of the most in-demand British actors working today. He has upcoming projects including a “Sense and Sensibility” adaptation and Margot Robbie’s “Ocean’s Eleven” prequel.
Rosy McEwen plays Dylan’s sister Claire. McEwen broke out in “Blue Jean” and has appeared in “Black Mirror”. She is currently playing a young Nicole Kidman in Prime Video’s “Scarpetta”.
The supporting cast includes Emma Naomi (“Bridgerton,” “Professor T”) as Becky, and Emun Elliott (“Game of Thrones,” “Prometheus”) as the hotel CEO James.
Behind the camera, the film is backed by BBC Film, Screen Scotland, and Ffilm Cymru Wales with National Lottery funding. It’s a co-production between Early Day Films and 65 Wilding Films. Producers include Kate Byers, Linn Waite, Alex Thiele, Marie-Elena Dyche, and Lowri Roberts. Blue Finch Films handles worldwide sales.
The film runs 87 minutes. The editing was done by Michael Aaglund and Jen Mackie, with cinematography by Nick Cooke. Composer Roly Porter created the score.
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Where to Watch ‘Mission’
“Mission” premiered in competition at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 15, 2026. The festival screening included content warnings for blood, death, mental illness, suicide, flashing lights, and violence.
The film does not yet have a wider release date announced. Variety notes that “Mission will count on MacKay’s profile to attract distributor interest following its competition premiere in Edinburgh, but it’s still no easy sell to audiences”. Given the film’s intense subject matter and unconventional style, it will likely seek distribution through independent film channels and streaming platforms in the coming months.
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