In a time when AI romances and “nice guy” horror tropes are wearing thin, Companion jolts the genre back to life with a surprisingly emotional twist many of us didn’t see coming. Directed by Drew Hancock and led by Yellowjackets star Sophie Thatcher, the 2025 sci-fi satire unwraps its genre trappings slowly, delivering something much deeper than its slasher-adjacent marketing lets on.
Yes, there’s blood. Yes, there’s code-gone-wrong chaos. But Companion’s real jolt to the system is emotional, not technological.
Thatcher plays Iris, a humanoid AI built for devotion, purchased by Josh (Jack Quaid) as the ideal partner for a weekend with his friends. But when her programming malfunctions after a brutal event, Iris begins gaining sentience—and with it, an unsettling awareness of her place in a world that treats women (and AI stand-ins) as disposable.
While trailers may have given away Iris’s true nature far too early, stripping the film of its biggest twist, the Companion movie still manages to reclaim its power by pushing us into unexpected emotional terrain.
The film plays with post-capitalist loneliness, hookup culture, and male entitlement with sharp, satirical edges—making us laugh and squirm while asking if we’re too far gone to fix what we’ve broken.
Sophie Thatcher’s Iris gives humanity to the humanoid
Sophie Thatcher’s performance is the glowing core of Companion. Known for her turns in Yellowjackets and Prospect, Thatcher here pulls off something even harder: making a machine’s slow crawl toward personhood feel gutting. Even in scenes where she’s forced into unsettling submission, Iris isn’t just a victim—she’s a mirror held up to our society’s emotional rot.
While Jack Quaid (of The Boys) leans into Josh’s spiraling entitlement with comic flair, and Harvey Guillén and Lukas Gage provide levity, it’s Iris who reshapes the film’s emotional core. As the violence escalates, so does Iris’s consciousness, making the audience root for her even as the horror kicks in.
Hancock channels The Stepford Wives’ legacy into a Gen Z nightmare, posing one central question: What happens when artificial affection is easier to buy than earn?
MORE: Companion Review: Insecure Men Being the Real Villain Tracks
Companion made some marketing missteps but still made it to being #1 on HBO
If Companion falters, it’s not in its content—it’s in its trailers. Revealing Iris’s android identity undercut what could have been the film’s biggest gasp-worthy moment. Still, knowing the twist didn’t erase the thrill of watching it unfold. The film’s first act foreshadows Iris’s nature in clever ways (her hyper-detailed weather reports, her instant “sleep” command response), making repeat viewings a joy for eagle-eyed fans.
What really sets Companion apart, though, is how it doesn’t just parody misogyny or tech addiction—it embodies the emotional fallout of both. When Kat (Megan Suri) tells Iris she “makes her feel replaceable,” it’s not just about androids. It’s about dating culture, workplace pressures, and the terrifying ease with which idealized versions of women replace themselves.
With its genre mashup of horror, comedy, and sci-fi, Companion isn’t just a step forward—it’s the glow-up the AI thriller genre sorely needed. It may not be as thematically deep as Ex Machina, nor as gonzo as Barbarian, but it hits the sweet spot where satire meets sincerity.
PS – Sophie Thatcher’s not just the scream queen of 2025; she’s the heart of it.
