How to Watch The Dog Stars Online in 4K

The Dog Stars is a 2026 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from the 2012 novel of the same name by Peter Heller, and starring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin. It is scheduled for release in the United States by 20th Century Studios on August 28, 2026. When it arrives on demand, InfinityTV's library of 150,000+ Movies & Series will carry it in full 4K Ultra HD.

What Is The Dog Stars?

The Dog Stars is a 2026 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film directed by Ridley Scott — one of cinema's most accomplished directors of large-scale science fiction and historical epics, with credits including Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Gladiator (2000), The Martian (2015), and Napoleon (2023).

The screenplay is written by Mark L. Smith — known for writing The Revenant (2015) for Alejandro González Iñárritu and Leonardo DiCaprio, and Midnight Special (2016). The film is a direct adaptation of The Dog Stars, the debut novel by Peter Heller (also known for The River and The Guide), published in 2012 by Knopf and widely praised for its combination of lyrical prose and gripping survival narrative.

The film is produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios (a division of The Walt Disney Company) and is scheduled for August 28, 2026 US release.

Principal photography began in Bordano in April 2025 and concluded in late June 2025 after filming in Bosco Macchia Grande in Manziana, near Rome — using the natural Italian forest landscape to represent the film's post-pandemic American wilderness.

You can check confirmed cast and production details on IMDb.

The Cast of The Dog Stars

Who stars in The Dog Stars?

Jacob Elordi plays Hig — a former civilian pilot who, in the years following a devastating flu pandemic that has nearly eradicated humanity, lives at a small regional airport with his dog Jasper. Elordi's trajectory from the Kissing Booth franchise through Euphoria to Saltburn (2023) has established him as one of the most versatile young actors in Hollywood, capable of projecting emotional vulnerability alongside physical intensity.

Josh Brolin plays Bangley — an aloof, heavily armed ex-Marine and Hig's unlikely companion. Brolin (No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Sicario, Avengers: Infinity War as Thanos, Dune as Gurney Halleck) has a specific authority in stoic, morally complex survivor roles that makes him ideal casting for Bangley.

Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Maid, Drive-Away Dolls) and Allison Janney (I, Tonya, Mom, The West Wing) complete the core cast alongside Benedict Wong (Avengers: Infinity War as Wong, Marco Polo) and Guy Pearce (Memento, L.A. Confidential, The King's Speech).

What Is The Dog Stars About?

What is the story of The Dog Stars?

Set in the aftermath of a devastating flu pandemic that has almost completely eradicated humanity, The Dog Stars follows Hig — a civilian pilot — as he maintains a fragile existence at a small Colorado airport with his dog Jasper and his armed, suspicious companion Bangley. The two men have established a working survival arrangement: Hig flies reconnaissance and Bangley provides lethal protection against the increasingly desperate survivors who threaten their compound.

The story turns on Hig's decision to fly west, beyond the reach of his fuel supply, after picking up a voice on his radio — a signal that suggests there may be other organised survivors. The question of whether to stay in relative safety or risk everything for the possibility of human connection and something better is the novel's — and the film's — central moral and emotional engine.

Peter Heller's novel is not a conventional action thriller. It is a meditative, lyrically written story about loss, companionship (human and animal), hope, and the question of what constitutes a life worth living after catastrophe. Ridley Scott's adaptation, as filtered through Mark L. Smith's screenplay — Smith's work on The Revenant suggests he can handle that tonal combination of poetic interiority and brutal survival action — seems positioned to honour the novel's emotional register.

Why is Ridley Scott the right director for The Dog Stars?

Ridley Scott has directed some of cinema's most influential post-apocalyptic and survival narratives. The Martian (2015) demonstrated his ability to combine genuine scientific/survival credibility with emotional warmth in an otherwise harsh isolated environment. Blade Runner (1982) established the template for atmospheric, melancholy science fiction that has influenced virtually every post-apocalyptic visual language since.

The Dog Stars requires a filmmaker who can hold simultaneously the intimate (a man grieving his dead wife, caring for his dog, maintaining a daily routine in the ruins) and the epic (flight sequences over a depopulated America, confrontations with hostile survivors). Scott's career is built on that precise balance.

How to Watch The Dog Stars in 4K

The Dog Stars releases theatrically on August 28, 2026, via 20th Century Studios. Here is how to watch it in 4K on InfinityTV once it becomes available on demand:

1. Subscribe to InfinityTV — all InfinityTV plans include the full on-demand library of 150,000+ Movies & Series, including 20th Century Studios titles as they enter the digital window.
2. Download the InfinityTV app on your Smart TV, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, Android TV, iOS, or Android device.
3. Search for "The Dog Stars" in the InfinityTV app once the film is available on streaming.
4. Select 4K UHD — InfinityTV's infrastructure operates at 99.9% uptime, ensuring Ridley Scott's post-pandemic American landscapes and aerial sequences stream in full 4K HDR without interruption.

Ridley Scott's visual language — detailed environmental design, atmospheric lighting, and wide-field landscape photography — is among the most 4K-rewarding in contemporary cinema.

Device Compatibility

InfinityTV works on all major devices:

• Amazon Fire Stick 4K — see the Fire Stick streaming guide
• Smart TVs — Samsung, LG, Sony, and all major brands
• Apple TV 4K (App Store)
• Android TV / Google TV set-top boxes
• iOS and Android phones and tablets
• Web browser on Windows or Mac

24/7 support is available for setup and playback questions.

Peter Heller's Novel and the Literary Tradition Behind the Film

Peter Heller published The Dog Stars in 2012 as his debut novel, after a career as an adventure journalist and travel writer. The novel received wide critical attention on publication for its unusual combination of post-apocalyptic survivalism with lyrical, careful prose — a style more associated with literary fiction than genre thriller. The New York Times called it "a novel of devastating beauty." It spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

The novel's narrative voice — Hig speaks in a distinctive, compressed syntax that drops articles and conventional punctuation in a way that reflects his psychological isolation — is one of its most celebrated qualities and one of the most difficult elements to translate to film. Mark L. Smith's screenplay faces the challenge of preserving the emotional effect of that interiority while translating it to a visual medium. Smith's experience adapting The Revenant — a film built around an equally interior, survival-focused narrative — is directly relevant.

Ridley Scott brings a specific set of visual references to post-apocalyptic science fiction. Blade Runner (1982) — now recognised as one of the most influential science fiction films ever made — established a visual language for human civilisation after ecological and social collapse: rain-drenched streets, neon advertisements for products no one needs, the persistent question of what distinguishes humans from the machines they create. The Martian (2015) approached survival science fiction from the opposite direction: bright, almost clinical, a film about a person using intelligence and humour to stay alive against overwhelming odds.

The Dog Stars sits between these two poles: it is both bleaker than The Martian (the world is genuinely damaged beyond repair) and warmer than Blade Runner (the emotional core is about human connection rather than alienation). Scott's ability to hold that tonal balance — demonstrated most recently in Napoleon (2023), a film that simultaneously admires and satirises its subject — makes him the right director for Heller's material.

Jacob Elordi's trajectory as a performer has been one of the more striking of his generation. From the Netflix romantic comedy The Kissing Booth (2018) through Euphoria (Nate Jacobs, 2019–2022), Deep Water (2022), and Saltburn (2023) — where his performance as Felix Catton, a charismatic aristocrat who is less generous than he appears, earned him significant critical attention — Elordi has consistently pushed toward complexity and challenge. Playing Hig — a man defined by loss, sustained by routine, and unexpectedly restored by hope — represents a different register: interior, grief-defined, quietly heroic rather than externally powerful.

Josh Brolin has played survivalist characters of various kinds throughout his career (No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Sicario, Outer Range) but the Bangley character offers something specific: a man who has survived by eliminating everything soft from his personality, and who is tested by Hig's insistence on maintaining that softness despite everything. The dynamic between these two performances will define the film's emotional credibility.

August 2026: Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi in a Strong Release Window

August 28, 2026 places The Dog Stars at the end of the summer theatrical season alongside The End of Oak Street (David Robert Mitchell, Bad Robot, August 14) — an unusually strong double-bill of serious science fiction for late summer. For viewers who appreciate science fiction that engages with questions of survival, human connection, and moral complexity alongside its spectacle, August 2026 offers exceptional theatrical options.

InfinityTV's 22,000+ live TV channels include documentary, science, and cinema channels that will cover major releases through the year.

For more on 2026's biggest films, see the top movies to watch in 2026 and the new movies streaming in 2026.

Frequently asked questions

When does The Dog Stars (2026) release and when can I stream it? The Dog Stars is scheduled for theatrical release on August 28, 2026 via 20th Century Studios. 20th Century Studios titles typically arrive on digital platforms 45–60 days after theatrical opening. InfinityTV will carry the film in its on-demand library when the digital window opens.

Who stars in The Dog Stars? The film stars Jacob Elordi as Hig (a former civilian pilot), Josh Brolin as Bangley (an ex-Marine survivalist), Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong, and Guy Pearce. It is directed by Ridley Scott.

What is The Dog Stars based on? The Dog Stars is adapted from the 2012 novel of the same name by Peter Heller. The novel was Heller's debut and was widely praised for its lyrical prose and emotionally grounded post-apocalyptic narrative. The screenplay is written by Mark L. Smith, who previously wrote The Revenant.

What is the story about? Set after a flu pandemic nearly eliminates humanity, the film follows Hig — a pilot living at a small airport with his dog and an armed companion — who picks up a radio signal suggesting other survivors exist beyond his range and decides to fly west to find them.

Can I watch The Dog Stars in 4K on InfinityTV? Yes. When The Dog Stars reaches digital platforms, InfinityTV will stream it in 4K Ultra HD. InfinityTV's infrastructure delivers 99.9% uptime and supports high-bitrate 4K HDR streams. A minimum 25 Mbps connection is recommended; 50 Mbps or above ensures Ridley Scott's atmospheric landscapes render at maximum quality.