They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but 2026 has shown that audiences can’t get enough of certain actors who are gracing the silver screen over and over and over again this year. Anne Hathaway is appearing in five movies, while Robert Pattinson and Sandra Hüller have their own quartet of releases, while Zendaya popped up in two of the summer’s biggest hits and has a blockbuster-in-waiting coming up in December.

Now you can add another triple threat to that list: veteran character actor and producer Theo Rossi. The native New Yorker has assembled an impressive roster of credits across movies like Cloverfield and Emily the Criminal and TV shows including Sons of Anarchy and Luke Cage. Rossi is now a major presence in three 2026 film festival premieres that are coming to a theater near you over the next few months.

First up is Come With Me, the timely story of a husband and father who is slowly, but surely red-pilled by a constant stream of conservative media; following its premiere at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in April, the movie opens in theaters on Friday. Then comes Bruton, a prison drama that just played the Locarno Film Festival to strong reviews and will drop in theaters later this fall. And then next March, audiences will be able to take the Twilight Zone-inspired ride that is The Saviors, a buzzy breakout from this year’s SXSW starring Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler.

Collectively, these movies could cheekily be referred to as the “Theo trio,” but individually each one displays the his dramatic range and dedication to telling a diverse slate of stories. “They’re all wildly different films, which is kind of cool in today’s day and age of similarity,” the actor tells Gold Derby. “You seem to see a lot of the same, but I’m a big fan of projects that make me go, ‘What’s this about?'”

In an expansive conversation, Rossi talks through what drew him to each entry in the “Theo trio,” teases whether we’ll see his Luke Cage character Shades back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and celebrates the just-announced meta-revival of Sons of Anarchy that re-teams him with Ron Perlman and Charlie Hunnam.

Gold Derby: People are always surprised when actors appear in back-to-back-to-back projects in a calendar year, but that’s just a reality of how films are made and distributed, especially in the indie realm. But is it still strange for you to have these three movies coming out so close to each other?

Theo Rossi: I mean, it’s kind of a champagne problem to have! [Laughs] But that’s what it’s like now some movie sit around for two years, and some come out really quickly. These movies just happen to be hitting the festivals and theaters really close together.

I think it’s fair to call you a “jobbing actor,” someone that’s just consistently and constantly working in all kinds of roles and projects. But we also hear all the time about how that particular class of performer is finding it increasingly hard to make a living. Have you felt that pressure at all?

I’ve been really fortunate in that when I wasn’t as active, I made my own stuff. I studied every aspect of what people like John Cassavetes and the French New Wave filmmakers were doing, and decided that if the business was not going to put me in the position to pursue careers like that, I had to do it on my own. I’ve also been fortunate to have been part of some really great TV shows like The Penguin where I can jump in and do a couple of episodes and the pressure isn’t on me to be a regular.

As indie film shrinks, it’s definitely getting harder for the people who used to be able to be the lead in a couple mid-budget movies are now taking seventh and eighth-billed roles because they’ve got to work. So far, I haven’t seen too many obstacles myself; I kind of like to keep moving and I tend to work with the same people all the time, which is a good thing because it means they trust me. The only time I went a long stretch without working was when I was about to direct a movie, but that’s in limbo right now.

I’m a fan of prison movies, and Bruton is a good addition to the genre. You’ve been in cinematic lock-up a couple of times — what attracted you to this particular story?

Not to sound pompous, but I’ve always felt that movies and television are a kind of replacement theory; when we watch something like Sons of Anarchy, we think, “What would I do in this situation if I were in a biker gang?” And that’s definitely the case with prison movies and series. Oz is one of my favorite shows, and then there’s Escape From Alcatraz, Shawshank and Shot Caller — the list goes on. But Bruton is based on a true story, so we made a point of saying, “We’re not making a prison movie; we’re making a movie about the life of a guy who happens to be in the penal system.”

With most prison movies, we rarely get to see the inner workings of how these guys interact daily. It’s not doom and gloom all the time; I know from my own work within the prison system that these guys are hanging out and doing their thing, figuring out how they’re going to get by, so that gives it a fresh spin. And at the end of the day, this movie is about a father and the daughter he’s separated from on the outside.

The reaction of the Locarno audience must have been interesting since Europe has a very different approach to incarceration.

Yeah, one of the big things we talked about over there is how the U.S. prison system is privatized and for-profit in a way. We have a lot of people in prison, and that doesn’t just affect them, but also the children and family members on the outside. And even after they come out of prison, they tend to wear a scarlet letter for the rest of their lives. Instead of rehabilitation, it’s a kind of punishment. While there has to be punishment, what’s the point of the system? Are we trying to rehabilitate people? Or are we telling them, “Once you go inside, you’re always inside?” So a lot of the questions we heard in Europe were along the lines of “What’s going on over there?” They were both confused and intrigued by our system.

Interestingly, Come With Me is kind of a prison movie as well — your character willingly locks himself in a prison of his own making courtesy of his media diet. Have you seen that happen to people in your life?

Oh yeah, definitely to some family members. There are levels to it: sometimes it’ll be your mom or someone from a different generation calling you and saying, “Did you hear? You can’t eat broccoli anymore.” And then you have to be like, “Where did you hear that?” and they’ll say “Facebook.” The other thing is that right now, everyone has a microphone that they’re talking into and that means people are listening. That rhetoric is going to feed someone, and they’re going to get seduced by it.

In the case of my character, Simon, he already has a distrust for society, which many people also have now. So that allows this one conservative voice in particular to penetrate his cerebral cortex at all times. And then the next thing you know, he’s inching towards this version of himself that someone else programmed. That’s happening to so many people now, whether it’s about diet or politics or religion. I’m a big fan of movies like The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver, where these individuals are seduced to the point of madness. And Simon’s no different; he didn’t have the strength to fight off whatever was coming into his head.

We should say that the voice he’s persuaded by belongs to your Sons of Anarchy co-star, Ron Perlman.

Yes — and his voice is as cinematic as you can get! I’ve put Ron in the last few movies that I’ve produced. Besides the Sons of Anarchy thing, I’m a big believer in Hollywood legacy and actors like Ron are connected to an entirely different era of film that I truly love and respect. I mean, Ron made The Island of Dr. Moreau with Marlon Brando! He’s part of a generation that we’re never going to see again.

He also pops up in The Saviors, which has some wild twists and turns that we won’t spoil here. What grabbed you about the story when you first read it?

I’m a huge fan of The Twilight Zone and The ‘Burbs, so the script really spoke to me in that way. And I had just worked with Danielle on another movie, so we became really close and once I knew she was the lead in The Saviors, I told the filmmakers, “Whatever you need, I’m there.” I’m playing this guy, Amir, who is code-switching at every moment depending on his situation, and I looked at that as playing three characters in one. The three things I like to do as an actor are make people laugh, make them cry, or make them feel off-kilter about who I am when I’m onscreen. And with Amir, they’re thinking, “Who is this stranger? What does he want?” And then that all just unravels.

Do you have a particular preference about being a leading man versus a supporting player?

When I’m producing something, especially a smaller film where we don’t have a lot of resources, I like to put everything on me. That’s also why I always cast my friends! [Laughs] Hollywood has become quite risk-averse, so in the modern system, I knew that I’d never get to play a leading role like in Bruton or Come With Me for someone else. That’s why I put the risk on myself. But even when I am the lead, I never look at it that way, because I always have plenty of amazing people around me.

Luke Cage is celebrating its 10th anniversary later this month, and Mike Colter has revived the character for the Disney+ Daredevil sequel series. Any chance we’ll see Shades Alvarez again in the MCU?

I don’t know! Shades was a really violent character, but he was also so multidimensional. There was so much going on in terms of his past lives with Mariah (Alfre Woodard) and Cottonmouth (Mahershala Ali), and he was so grounded in reality outside of the sunglasses. It’s funny, I actively fought to remove them because I wanted people to see my eyes, but that would have taken away from his nickname. [Laughs]

That show was ahead of its time, and bringing Mike back is a great honor for Ethan Alter Cheo Hodari Coker and the cast he put together. But I don’t know if Shades fits into this version of the MCU. I also switched over the DC Universe for The Penguin, so I don’t know how Marvel feels about that! [Laughs] That show actually feels very much in line with what we were doing in Luke Cage, especially for Mahershala and I. We were always like, “We’re making The Wire, but there just happens to be superheroes in it.” That was always the way we played it.

Jon Bernthal found a way to make the Punisher PG-13 appropriate for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so Shades could still have his day.

Yeah, it would just have to be a different version of the character, and you’d have to take away some of the violence. But it’s so cool that I’ve gotten to be in both the Marvel and DC universes.

Any other universes you’d want to join?

I did a voice for Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi as Senator Larik. That was cool, and my way of nudging into Star Wars, because I’m not sure I’ll ever get to swing a lightsaber in my life! I’m also a huge G.I. Joe fan, and I know Danny McBride is working on a new movie. The thing about those kinds of universes is that you always want to play a cool character who has some cool place to fit in. Is there a Care Bears movie coming out? I love Care Bears. [Laughs]

We do know that you’re returning to the Sons of Anarchy universe for the Legends spin-off. What can you tease about the series?

It’s absolutely incredible. That show was a once in a lifetime experience, and we never stopped being a family. We were always trying to figure out some way for us all to be together again and do something, and Charlie created the perfect opportunity. I’m so honored to be on such a legendary show and for all of us to come back at his moment in our lives is incredible. We’ve been through a ton together in every way, so to see where our careers started from that show and where they’ve come back to now is crazy. Getting back together is like a celebration of sorts.

This interview has been edited and condensed.