Cillian Murphy’s Steve Isn’t a Feel-Good Teacher Movie — It’s Something Stranger
Netflix’s new drama flips the classroom story on its head, with Murphy playing a headmaster on the verge of collapse.
June 24 EST: He’s traded nuclear physics for hallway duty — and somehow, the stakes feel just as heavy. Cillian Murphy is back in uniform in Steve, his first Netflix film, and the vibe is less Dead Poets Society, more Uncut Gems with staffroom coffee.
Netflix dropped a first look at the Tim Mielants-directed drama today, and it’s clear this isn’t a feel-good school movie. It’s about emotional triage, institutional failure, and the silent toll of trying to hold it all together. Murphy stars as Steve, the exhausted headmaster of a crumbling British reform school in the mid-’90s. The whole story takes place over one pressure-cooker day. Think: broken plumbing, mental health spirals, budget disasters — and one student who might be a reflection too sharp to ignore.
That student is Shy, played by Jay Lycurgo (Titans, The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself), a kid teetering between anger and despair. Their dynamic? Half mentorship, half emotional mirror maze.
Murphy’s First Netflix Outing — and It’s Very Much His Movie
Behind the scenes, Steve is also a big moment for Murphy the producer. This is the first film under his production company, Big Things Films, co-produced with Alan Moloney and Tina Pawlik. If Small Things Like These was the warm-up, this is the full swing: stripped-down, intense, and deeply personal.
What’s clever here is the shift in perspective. Max Porter’s novella Shy was about the kid. The film flips that — we’re inside the teacher’s head now, and it’s not a stable place. The voice in Steve’s head is just as chaotic as the school outside it. Murphy wears that unraveling beautifully. He’s playing a man trying to save a place that’s already half-abandoned, while quietly drowning himself.
There’s also a killer supporting cast: Tracey Ullman, Emily Watson, and Lil Simz (yes, that Lil Simz, in a major dramatic turn). Filmed across Somerset last summer, Steve nails the washed-out greys and grim staff lounges of British institutional life. No nostalgia here — just emotional mildew.
Save the Date: Steve Hits Netflix October 3
Mark your calendars: Steve hits select theaters in September 2025, then drops globally on Netflix October 3. Expect it to show up on fall festival lineups first — this one has “quiet awards contender” written all over it.
Early stills show Murphy doing what he does best — internal combustion, barely hidden behind a blazer and tie. If Oppenheimer was the performance that roared, Steve looks like the one that simmers until it hurts.
Why This Might Hit Harder Than You Think
Yes, it’s about a teacher. But Steve isn’t really an education story — it’s about the people inside broken systems who are breaking too. It’s about burnout, loneliness, and trying to help kids when you’ve never been helped yourself. It’s also a reminder that Cillian Murphy knows how to pick stories that get under your skin, not just into awards-season conversations.
So don’t expect sweeping speeches or easy redemption. Expect something raw. Something that lingers.
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A bi-coastal pop culture critic and former indie screenwriter, Gia covers Hollywood, streaming wars, and subculture shifts with razor wit and Gen Z intuition. If it’s going viral, she already knew about it.
