Published Jul 3, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
Makuochi Echebiri is a News Writer for Collider. He has been interested in creative writing from as far back as high school, and he would consume pretty much anything that’s film or TV. However, his truest love lies in the presence of historical epics and thrillers.
Lured by the brilliance of Middle Earth from an early age both in print and on screen, his palate has since expanded to other realms including Westeros, Kattegat among others. He also possesses a great appetite for the stories that emanate from the vastness of space. Even though he is no Avenger.
Obsessed with storytelling and having works of his own that have yet to make it to print, he is content to use that ability to communicate to as many as are reachable. In his spare time, he looks out for avenues where he can aid people aside from his plans to reign over this earthly realm. Yes…you heard that first here.
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Very few actors can match the career that Tom Hanks has. While Daniel Day-Lewis remains the only person to win three Academy Awards for Best Actor, Hanks is the next best thing, capturing the prestigious award in both 1994 and 1995. The Forrest Gump star has gone on to star in several titles to date, but he has ultimately developed quite an affinity with perhaps the darkest chapter in human history so far: World War II. The aptly titled World War II with Tom Hanks, a 20-part docuseries foray into this gloomy period of history, is Hanks’ latest engagement with that era. That chaotic, yet earth-altering period of human history has drawn several adaptations over the years.
When one thinks of World War II projects, one can’t help but recount the likes of Hanks’ own Saving Private Ryan as well as Band of Brothers and Dunkirk. Just like Christopher Nolan’s record-breaking biopic Oppenheimer, these adaptations tell stories from the war that keen historians are familiar with yet can’t quite get enough of. Especially when they lean heavily into stories of daring missions that, quite truly, shouldn’t have succeeded, but did. Such a premise sets Band of Brothers apart, and it does the same with SAS: Rogue Heroes, the BBC original series created by Steven Knight, the mind behind Netflix’s Peaky Blinders.,
The Knight-directed war drama premiered in October 2022 and, nearly four years on, continues to draw impressive viewership numbers. The series is led by an impressive ensemble of British talent, which also includes Game of Thrones alum Alfie Allen as Jock Lewes. From the onset, SAS: Rogue Heroes was both a critical and audience favorite, debuting with a perfect 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Having originally streamed on MGM+ and become available on premium video-on-demand platforms such as Apple TV, SAS: Rogue Heroes soon expanded to HBO Max, where it hasbecome one of the streamer’s most popular titles. Currently, the war series ranks in the top ten positions in Switzerland and Germany, while also charting in markets including the United States and Australia across various platforms.
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
SAS: Rogue Heroes follows Lieutenant David Stirling (Connor Swindells) and his group of equally trigger-happy soldiers who form a paratrooper regiment with the sole purpose of dropping into inhospitable locations and doing irreparable sabotage to the enemy. The offers a dramatized version of how the world’s most famous Special Forces unit was forged. The series also stars The Wheel of Time stars Dónal Finn as Eoin McGonigal and Jacob Ifan as Sergeant Pat Riley. With two seasons under its belt, in September 2025, MGM confirmed the series would return for a third season. The new season comes with new faces joining the cast, including Lorne MacFadyen (Vigil) as Reverend Fraser McLusky, Nick Hargrove (Devotion), Andrew Dawson, and Jake Jarratt. Series creator Knight pointed audiences towards what they might expect, noting, “series three picks up as the war enters a critical phase with the allies mobilising to liberate France.”
There is currently no official release date for Season 3. However, with production having been underway for much of the year, fans could receive a first teaser and perhaps even a premiere window before the end of 2026. You can stream SAS: Rogue Heroes right now on HBO Max and MGM+. Stay tuned for updates.
Action & Adventure
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2022 - 2025-00-00
Tom Shankland, Stephen Woolfenden