Jenna Ortega Stars in 'Klara and the Sun' Trailer

The first trailer for Taika Waititi's adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel casts Jenna Ortega as Klara, a solar-powered Artificial Friend, ahead of an October release.

A robot designed to cure loneliness

Jenna Ortega is swapping the gothic for the quietly futuristic. According to Variety, the first trailer for "Klara and the Sun" landed on June 22, 2026, offering fans their initial look at Ortega in the title role: a solar-powered "Artificial Friend" built to keep lonely human children company. It is a part that asks her to dial down the sharp, knowing energy of her best-known characters in favor of something gentler and more searching.

The film is directed by Taika Waititi and adapts the bestselling novel by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro, a pairing of distinctive creative voices that has drawn attention on its own. Variety reports that the story follows Klara after a mother purchases the robot for her ailing daughter, Josie, using that premise to thread questions about devotion, illness and what it actually means to be human through a quietly dystopian world. Sony's 3000 Pictures produced the adaptation.

The cast and the release date

The trailer also showcases an ensemble stacked with familiar faces around Ortega's central performance. Per Variety, the cast includes:

Amy Adams as the mother
Mia Tharia as Josie
Natasha Lyonne
Steve Buscemi
Aran Murphy, son of actor Cillian Murphy

The outlet notes that "Klara and the Sun" is set to open in theaters on October 23, 2026, slotting it neatly into the fall awards-season window, a release corridor typically reserved for studios that believe a film can compete for prestige attention. Tonally, the trailer leans into Klara's wide-eyed, observant point of view, emphasizing the character's almost childlike effort to understand the family she has been brought in to serve and the emotions she can perceive but not fully share.

A genre pivot for Ortega

For Ortega, the project represents another deliberate step beyond the horror and comedy roles that turned her into a household name. Coming off her work in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and the Netflix series that catapulted her to global stardom, she takes on a far more restrained, interior performance here. Rather than commanding a scene with attitude, she is tasked with playing a machine whose very lack of human instinct becomes the emotional core of the film, a tricky balance that requires conveying feeling through stillness and observation.

Variety frames the adaptation as a prestige swing for both Ortega and Waititi, pairing Ishiguro's contemplative, melancholy source material with a director known for his range across comedy, blockbuster spectacle and intimate drama. That combination carries some risk; tender, idea-driven literary adaptations do not always translate easily to a wide theatrical audience. But it also offers real upside, giving Ortega a showcase for a different kind of work and giving Waititi a chance to flex a quieter register than fans may expect.

What to watch for

With a fall release now locked in and a cast full of awards-pedigree names, "Klara and the Sun" is positioned to be one of the more closely watched theatrical outings of Ortega's career. The trailer's reception suggests there is genuine curiosity about how she handles the role, and the months ahead will reveal whether the film can convert that curiosity into the kind of conversation, critical and commercial, that a prestige fall title needs. For now, the first look has done its job: it has put Klara, and Ortega's unexpected turn as her, firmly on the radar.