Charlize Theron Is Back in Action as an Immortal Fighter in Trailer for Netflix's The Old Guard

The modern age can be tough for anybody to navigate, even immortal warriors.

Charlize Theron stars in Netflix’s The Old Guard, an action film about a group of soldiers who have covertly been protecting the world for centuries — and all have the same very handy skill of being able to heal themselves quickly, even from what would be fatal injuries.

In the first trailer, Theron’s Andromache of Scythia, who just goes by “Andy” now, and her group of fighters discover their first new recruit in centuries, U.S. Marine Nile Freeman (Kiki Layne).

However, while Theron and her crew of immortal fighters have sharpened their skill set over the years, part of the job requires that they stay in the shadows, and as that’s no longer as easy as it once was, the team finds themselves on the radar of a new enemy, who wants to unlock the secrets of their DNA and weaponize them.

Aimee Spinks/NETFLIX Charlize Theron

Based on a comic book series by Greg Rucka and illustrator Leandro Fernández, the film is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, whose previous projects include Love & Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees.

The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Harry Melling, Marwan Kenzari, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli and Veronica Ngo.

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Although Theron, 44, has made many action films over the years, most recently 2017's Atomic Blonde, the actress has said that training to play the centuries-old fighter was particularly difficult — especially when it came to wielding some massive weapons, like a two-handed battle axe.

“I’ve never had to do anything like that,” Theron recently told Entertainment Weekly “You have to learn to fight with that ginormous thing in a way where you don’t kill the person that you’re fighting with.”

Courtesy of Netflix Charlize Theron

During the course of filming, Theron also tore a tendon in her thumb.

“I definitely cried quite a bit,” she said of the injury. “Everybody kept saying, ‘This is probably serious,’ and I was like, ‘We can’t talk about that right now. We just have to keep going because what are we going to do? We have three more weeks to shoot. We’ve got to get through it.”

Layne, who starred in the 2018 film If Beale Street Could Talk, also praised the film for deviating from the mold of most mainstream action films. “These types of films — especially action films of this size — usually follow a male character, and there are female characters, but they’re just kind of orbiting around whatever his story is,” the actress told EW. "This film [has] the ability to carry two very strong female stories.”

The Old Guard begins streaming on Netflix on July 10.