Orion is a 96-minute psychological sci-fi thriller that trades spaceship spectacle for a battle of words in a sealed room.

Directed by South Africa’s Jaco Bouwer (Gaia) and written by former intelligence analyst Anne Vithayathil, it stars Andrew McCarthy, Drew Van Acker and Debby Ryan.

The setup is simple and unsettling. An astronaut named Apollo (Van Acker) crash-lands back on Earth as the lone survivor of a catastrophic mission, his crew dead and his memory in pieces. A NASA interrogator named Jim (McCarthy) is assigned to help him remember, and to find out “who” or “what” killed everyone else on board. Debby Ryan plays Mary, Apollo’s wife, whose struggle to reach her husband is not quite what it first appears.

As Apollo’s memories return, neither man can be sure the other is telling the truth. The answers point to something that came back with him, and to what it could mean for Earth.

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LRM Online’s Gig Patta spoke with actor Drew Van Acker and director Jaco Bouwer on the film.

Jaco Bouwer, director

Jaco Bouwer is a South African director working across theatre, film and television, known for a bold visual style and experimental storytelling. He won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama in 2008, then Best Director three years running at the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards. His debut feature, the eco-horror Gaia, premiered at SXSW 2021, won the festival’s ZEISS Cinematography Award and was released in the U.S. by Bleecker Street. On television, he directed all eight episodes of Spinners for Canal+ and Showmax, the first African series selected for Canneseries and winner of Best Series at the 2023 Dakar Series Festival, along with the record-breaking true-crime series Niggies (Cousins) for kykNET. Orion was shot in New York.

Drew Van Acker, Apollo and producer

Drew Van Acker has acted for more than 16 years and is best known for seven seasons on the global hit Pretty Little Liars. His television work also includes Cartoon Network’s first live-action series Tower Prep, Devious Maids, the Training Day series, and the role of Aqualad on Titans. Increasingly a producer, he starred in and produced Last Survivors (2022) opposite Alicia Silverstone, which premiered at London’s FrightFest and reached No. 1 on Hulu in the U.S. Earlier film work includes the Lionsgate sci-fi release Life Like. Van Acker co-created Orion with Perkash, and his performance as Apollo won Best Actor at FilmQuest 2025.

Orion is available TVOD today.

Watch the exclusive interview with Drew Van Acker and Jaco Bouwer below. Let us know what you think.

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Source: LRM Online Exclusive, Blue Harbor Entertainment