Remarkably Bright Creatures Features Alfred Molina as Marcellus

Netflix has shared the official teaser for Remarkably Bright Creatures, based on Shelby Van Pelt’s New York Times bestselling novel. The adaptation debuts on Netflix May 8, 2026.

In the teaser, it is revealed that Alfred Molina voices the giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus, who says: “Humans, for the most part, are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.”

Directed by Olivia Newman, Remarkably Bright Creatures follows Tova (Sally Field), a lonely widow who finds joy again when she forms an unlikely bond with a giant Pacific octopus at the aquarium where she works, and a wayward young man, Cameron (Lewis Pullman), who comes to town in search of family.

Together, they uncover a mystery that leads them to a life-changing discovery and restores their sense of wonder. The cast also includes Colm Meaney, Joan Chen, Kathy Baker, Beth Grant, and Sofia Black D’Elia.

Van Pelt told the Netflix blog Tudum that the idea for Marcellus came from a YouTube rabbit hole and a fiction-writing exercise that led to the voice of an intelligent octopus stuck in captivity, and that she built the human characters around Marcellus.

“One of the places where I was able to find a really good character was on YouTube, watching videos of naughty octopuses that were escaping from their enclosures, or just getting up to antics in aquariums,” she said. “I remember thinking that would be such a fun voice to write, such a fun character to harness. The character of Marcellus came out of a little vignette that I wrote in a continuing education class.”

Marcellus needed human characters to ground the story in the real world, which is where Tova — based on Van Pelt’s own maternal grandmother — and Cameron — inspired by events throughout the author’s life — came in to play.

“Beyond Marcellus, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a story of love and grief,” Van Pelt added. “Those are two emotions that everyone who walks this planet feels at some point, so the themes are very widely resonant. There’s just a wide range of ages and generations and characters that people can enjoy together.”

The movie was directed by Olivia Newman, who wrote the script with John Whittington. The producers include Bryan Unkeless, Peter Craig, and David Levine.

The executive producers of the adaptation include Shelby Van Pelt, Erika Hampson, Olivia Newman, Alisa Tager, Tony Lipp, and Alyssa Rodrigues.