ComingSoon spoke with Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead star Caroline Goodall about the upcoming sci-fi adventure movie starring Vikings alum Marco Ilsø and Braveheart’s James Cosmo. Goodall discussed the film’s ambitious nature, its themes, and more. The disaster movie is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 13, 2026.
“Three centuries after the Great Flood, the world has fractured into scattered islands, forever threatened by a colossal, unending Storm. The Islanders’ only hope for safety lies in the fortified city-state of Argos – a sanctuary reachable only through perilous trials known as Storm Riding. Yet, among them, a defiant faction believes true salvation lies not within Argos, but beyond the Storm itself,” says the official synopsis.
Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead follows the audacious journey of two rebellious Islanders who dare to challenge fate—racing to breach the Storm, venture into the unknown, and uncover the secret origins of their world, guarded by the immortal rulers of Argos: the enigmatic Founders.”
Tyler Treese: Caroline, congrats on Storm Rider. This film was really ambitious, and it really is a sci-fi epic. There’s such a realized post-apocalyptic world to it. What really appealed to you about Storm Rider once you were approached about it?
Caroline Goodall: I loved every minute of it. I’m just so pleased and proud of them for having done this. You know, I mean, these kinds of movies are generally done by the studios for like $300 million. They had the guts, and they had the kind of imagination to say, “Let’s see what we can do.”
Building a world that’s really fascinating and interesting and getting a bunch of people together and shooting it in Croatia… which is actually where they’re from. Croatia and Bosnia. They are gamers originally, you know, game designers. So they, you know, really understand all the VFX.
Of course, the producer who was behind it was just 100%. When they sent me the script, I really just felt this was like Waterworld meets Hunger Games, with a little bit of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I love the steampunk kind of feel to it. I just felt that visually it was gonna be really, really interesting.
I’ve been working actually quite a lot with kind of younger directors, first-time directors. I think it’s just really important to be able to sort of support and just sort of help people with their vision to get there. Because it’s just so hard right now, too, it really is, and I think there is real room to be able to work out and find new ways of doing things and use all the kind of technical and technological tools that you can to kind of help bring budgets down and still take and still tell great stories.
I was surprised it wasn’t an adaptation of a book series because every detail is so well thought out. How was it working with the two directors, Zoran Lisinac and Domagoj Mazuran? Because they also co-wrote the script. It’s just clear they had such a vision for this. So what stood out about working with them?
They had an amazing vision. I’ve done that once before with a movie that came out a couple of years ago called Sew Torn, which is one of the most fabulous films I’ve been involved with, which was actually a father-son duo, Fred and Freddy McDonald. If you haven’t seen it, you really must – Sew Torn. It is just quite brilliant. The roles they took were like director and producer, and writer-producer.
Dom and Zoran also kind of tag-teamed a bit, but more or less, I think in the end, Zoran became more the director and Dom more the writer. So they kind of started sort of finding their own way as we went through the movie, realizing that you don’t always need both to sit there in front and tell one actor necessarily what to do. Actors generally need one person to help, as two can be a bit confusing.
But they were just so much fun. I was looking back and just looking at all the kinds of stills that we took on set and the kind of fun stuff we did, and just the enthusiasm, and it was tough. You’ve got water, you’ve got boats, you’ve got kids. You have this vision that you are trying to encompass in a short period of time with a budget that is constricting you.
We went everywhere. We were on islands. We were in the middle of Belgrade. We went to Dubrovnik, we shot during the pandemic in Dubrovnik when it was completely empty. It was just amazing. Of course, that’s where they shot Game of Thrones as well. So, I was like, “Oh my God, I’m on the beach. I’m on the same beach where all the boats used to come off on the Game of Thrones.” And we are like, “But it’s our beach. It’s mine.” So yeah, lots and lots of fun stuff. We had a blast.
Eternal life plays such an interesting role in this film. What did you find interesting about that theme? Because it’s certainly a temptation, and it drives people crazy even today.
Caroline Goodall: Well, I think the underlying themes of the movie are really interesting. They’re about depletion of world resources. They’re about the environment, and yes, they’re about the dangers of too much power and this search for eternal life. As we well know, we’ve had world leaders overheard talking about, you know, how they intended to live far beyond a hundred years old [laughs]. This sense of invincibility that all power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s exactly where you find these five people who have actually escaped the apocalypse and are survivors and are searching for dry land. And then they come across it in this extraordinary archipelago of islands that appear to be untouched.
And when they come across this liquid called the Element, then of course they become addicted to it. So, I think without any spoilers, the great thing about the Baroness is that she’s woken up from that, as well as, of course, the character that James Cosmo plays. She realizes that this is not the way forward, and she’s searching for harmony, but she has to do it still as the head of the Navy. [She does it] with subterfuge, because she’s in danger too from this extraordinary character who leads them all, Tarus.
The names they’ve given themselves as well, these kinds of Zeus-type names, Greek God-type names that they’ve given themselves. Presumably, she had some other name originally; they all did. They’re all kind of marching around. But I think it makes total sense.
Also, there’s something interesting that they came from gaming, because I think there is that kind of fun element as well in the movie. That kind of gaming element, too, that I think is also just gonna be very interesting to a lot of people who like that and who like world-building. I actually love sci-fi. I’m a huge sci-fi freak, and I love the water. So to me, this was perfect. I’m a sailor, actually. When I’m in London, which I am now, I live on a barge, so I’m actually talking to you from a boat.
That’s perfect.
Yeah. So the idea of going on water for me was like, “Oh yeah, that’s a good one. Thank you. Where do I sign up? How much water stuff am I doing?”
Yeah. This is a really fun film, and it’s clear that the world-building leaves room for more sequels down the line. Hopefully, we’ll get them.
Thank you so much. Yeah, I hope so too. I think if it’s a success, and they’ll get more money to be able to kind of do what they need to do, and just increase the production value and everything, and tell the stories. But I actually think the production value is really, really impressive. Especially that, I mean, the races are extraordinary. I mean, what they managed to do, and I tell you, so much of that was in camera. So much of that is for real. It really is, and that’s dangerous stuff too.
Thanks to Caroline Goodall for taking the time to speak about Storm Rider: Legend of Hammerhead.
