Emma Stone's chilling alien thriller sets Netflix release date in April 2026

Between the movies hitting theaters each week and the ones premiering on various streaming services, there are a lot of titles for movie fans to keep up with each month. Naturally, some movies slip through the cracks, including the ones that were nominated for Academy Awards. Sometimes, it's hard to watch them all before the Oscars are handed out, but they're starting to hit streaming.

Thankfully, if you managed to miss out on one of the buzziest sci-fi dark comedies of the past year, we're finally getting another way to add it to our streaming watch lists. Yorgos Lanthimos once again teamed up with two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone following their two previous collaborations on The Favourite and Poor Things, and the hit movie is coming to Netflix.

After being available to stream on Peacock since December 2025, Bugonia will make its exciting surprise arrival on Netflix beginning on Sunday, April 26, 2026. The movie wasn't initially announced to be coming when the streamer unveiled its new releases for the month, but the streaming service began teasing the movie's premiere date on its app and site, where you can now set a reminder.

Bugonia coming to Netflix in April 2026

First released in theaters in October 2025, Bugonia's perhaps best known as the movie that features Emma Stone with a shaved head. The actress, who won an Oscar for her performance in her previous film with Lanthimos (Poor Things), actually shaved her head for the role to play Michelle Fuller, a powerful CEO leading a pharmaceutical company who becomes an unexpected target.

Jesse Plemons stars as Teddy Gatz, a beekeeper with a personally relevant conspiracy theory, who kidnaps Michelle along with his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Teddy staunchly believes that Michelle's only posing as a human and is, in fact, an alien sent from her planet to take out Earth. Is his belief true? Bugonia takes you on a back and forth guessing game until the last second.

Take a closer look at the film's official synopsis via Focus Features: "Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth."

Bugonia bases its story on the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet! from writer and director Jang Joon-hwan, though taking an Americanized twist on the narrative. Even though the sci-fi dark comedy deals with the concept of aliens and conspiracy theories, the movie has an incredibly interesting message to dive into and dissect. And it's completely anchored by Stone and Plemons.

Unfortunately, the movie didn't take home any of its four Academy Award nominations, which included Best Picture, Best Actress for Stone, Best Adapted Screenplay for writer Will Tracy, and Best Original Score for Jerskin Fendrix. Bugonia also landed major nominations from the Actor Awards and Golden Globes, but its critical acclaim was a win in and of itself.

When Bugonia begins streaming on Netflix on April 26, it's surely going to be a surprise to a number of viewers who decided to give it a shot based on the buzz. It's for sure going to be one of the weirdest movies you've seen in a while, but it's more than worth watching ASAP!