Peter Berg’s The Mosquito Bowl brings college football stars to the Pacific in Netflix’s new WWII epic
Four college football stars trade stadiums for the battlefield in The Mosquito Bowl, Peter Berg’s new World War II drama for Netflix. The first teaser trailer, released Sept. 9, 2026, introduces a story that begins with football and ends in the brutal reality of the Pacific Theater.
Berg, the director behind Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day, Hancock, and Battleship, turns to a real wartime story adapted from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Buzz Bissinger’s book The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II.
The film stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, and Tom Francis as four celebrated college football players who give up promising athletic careers to enlist in the Marines after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
From there, their journey takes them far from the football field and into the Pacific, where the camaraderie and competition that once defined their lives take on a much darker meaning.
Watch the official teaser for The Mosquito Bowl
Netflix’s teaser gives a first look at Berg’s approach to the material, moving between the football field, Marine training, and the devastation of war. The film is scheduled to arrive in select theaters on Oct. 30, 2026, before streaming on Netflix on Nov. 25.
From college football to the Pacific battlefield
The story begins after Pearl Harbor, when four of America’s top college football players put their athletic careers aside and enlist in the Marines.
They are John McLaughry, played by Nicholas Galitzine; Bob Bauman, played by Bill Skarsgård; Tony Butkovich, played by Ray Nicholson; and David Schreiner, played by Tom Francis.
Their lives change quickly as they move from the world of college football into the military and eventually toward the invasion of Okinawa.
The film’s central premise revolves around a legendary football game involving some of the finest players of the era. For many of the men taking part, it would become the final game they ever played.
The real story behind the Mosquito Bowl
The film is based on Bissinger’s 2022 book The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II, which recounts the lives of college football players who joined the military during World War II and the extraordinary game that brought many of them together before the Battle of Okinawa.
The real Mosquito Bowl took place on Guadalcanal on Dec. 24, 1944. Players from the 4th and 29th Marine Regiments faced each other in a football game played shortly before they were sent toward Okinawa.
The matchup brought together a remarkable collection of college football talent, including players who would later reach the NFL. Several of the men who participated were killed during the Battle of Okinawa.
That history gives the film its central tension. What might ordinarily be remembered as a spirited football game becomes something much more sobering when viewed alongside what happened to many of the players afterward.
Who plays the four football stars?
Nicholas Galitzine leads the film as John McLaughry, a natural leader who played quarterback at Brown University under the coaching of his father. The character carries the determination he developed on the football field into the battlefields of the Pacific.
Bill Skarsgård plays Bob Bauman, a larger-than-life figure who brings the same force and enthusiasm to military life that he once brought to football. Bauman played for the University of Wisconsin.
Ray Nicholson portrays Tony Butkovich, the Purdue star regarded as one of the era’s outstanding offensive players. Butkovich established records at Purdue and was considered an exceptional athlete.
Tom Francis plays David Schreiner, another University of Wisconsin player. Compared with Bauman, Schreiner brings a more measured and strategic approach to the game.
The four actors developed a close bond during the production, echoing the camaraderie shared by the football players and Marines they portray.
Peter Berg returns to a story rooted in football
For Berg, The Mosquito Bowl brings him back into familiar territory.
He directed the 2004 film adaptation of Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, which later became the basis for the 2006 television series. Bissinger and Berg are now collaborating again on a story that connects football with the lives of young men shaped by forces far beyond the playing field.
Berg also co-wrote and directed The Mosquito Bowl. Mark L. Smith is credited as a co-writer, while Berg produces alongside Brian Grazer for Imagine Entertainment and Alex Gayner.
The director has emphasized the importance of staying close to the experiences of the real men at the center of the story. The production was designed around a strong sense of realism, with the cast doing much of the physical work themselves and making limited use of stunt doubles. Galitzine said the actors worked around explosives, fire, and other effects at close range as part of Berg’s approach to the film.
Explosions in the Sky reunites with Berg
The film also reunites Berg with several collaborators from Friday Night Lights.
Explosions in the Sky, the post-rock band that worked with Berg on Friday Night Lights and Lone Survivor, is returning to provide music for The Mosquito Bowl. The group has also previously worked with Berg on the Netflix series American Primeval.
The collaboration adds another connection between Berg’s earlier football drama and his latest film, although the setting this time shifts from Texas football to the Pacific Theater of World War II.
A major shift for Berg before Call of Duty
The Mosquito Bowl arrives ahead of another major project for Berg.
In 2028, he is expected to direct a live-action Call of Duty adaptation for Paramount. The project will be co-written by Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan.
Berg’s involvement is notable given his previous criticism of war-themed video games. He once called Call of Duty and similar games “pathetic” and criticized players for relying on what he described as “keyboard courage.”
Before that adaptation reaches theaters, The Mosquito Bowl gives Berg another opportunity to explore war through the experiences of young men caught in circumstances far larger than themselves.
When will The Mosquito Bowl be released?
The Mosquito Bowl will open in select theaters on Oct. 30, 2026, followed by its Netflix release on Nov. 25, 2026. The film has a reported runtime of just over two hours and carries an R rating.
At its center is a football game that really happened, played by men who were preparing to enter one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. Berg’s film follows those players from the promise of college football to the realities of military service, making the game itself a final moment of normalcy before many of their lives were permanently changed.