The New Boy: Release date, plot, and everything we know so far

The New Boy is set to open in theaters across North America on May 23, 2025, through Vertical Entertainment. The highly anticipated Australian drama is the result of a powerful partnership between the famous director Warwick Thornton and the famous actress Cate Blanchett.

The story focuses on an unknown Aboriginal child who is taken to a remote Christian monastery run by Sister Eileen. The boy doesn't have a name and cannot speak English, but he seems to have magical powers.

The film stars Aswan Reid and Cate Blanchett as the boy and the nun, respectively, with Blanchett also serving as a producer.

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The New Boy releases on May 23, 2025

The New Boy will officially hit theaters in North America on May 23, 2025. According to a Variety report dated April 8, 2025, Vertical acquired the North American rights for the film. The film was first premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2023, and was the opening film of the 2023 Sydney Film Festival on June 7, 2023.

The film was released in theaters in Australia by Roadshow Films in Australia on 6 July 6, 2023. The New Boy was released in the UK and Ireland by Signature Entertainment on 15 March 2024.

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What is The New Boy about?

(L to R) Andrew Upton, Deborah Mailman, Lorenzo De Maio, Wayne Blair, Kath Shelper, Aswan Reid, Warwick Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Coco Francini and Georgie Pym attend Dirty Films and Scarlet Pictures' "The New Boy" cocktail recepiton at Cannes Film Festival 2023. (Image via Getty)

The movie takes place in rural Australia in the 1940s and is about an unknown Aboriginal orphan boy who is nine years old and is captured after a violent fight with a white horseman.

The official synopsis of the movie states,

"When an Aboriginal child arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery run by a renegade nun (Cate Blanchett) in 1940s Australia, the new boy’s presence disturbs a delicately balanced world in this story of tradition and the cost of survival."

The boy is taken in secret to a remote monastery for Aboriginal boys. He has supernatural abilities like healing and calling forth light. Sister Eileen (Cate Blanchett), a rebellious nun who has been keeping up the false pretense that the dead priest still runs the place, is in charge of the mission.

The boy, who is called "The New Boy," is wild and hard to work with at first. He won't wear clothes, doesn't speak English, and isn't interested in Christian teachings. He learns to read and write, though, and starts to form bonds with the other boys.

The Christian caretakers are disturbed by his magical powers, especially when he starts to interact with a statue of Jesus by giving it snakes as gifts and getting visible scars on his palms.

Sister Eileen is torn between her faith and her interest in the boy's power. In the end, she decides to "save" him by baptism.

In this case, the act takes away his supernatural powers, which is a metaphor for losing his cultural identity. The boy quietly accepts his fate now that he is calmer and dressed like the other boys.

At the end of the movie, there is a mix of acceptance and loss as The New Boy makes his way through life in a world that doesn't fully understand or welcome his Indigenous spirituality.

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What's in the trailer?

In the trailer of The New Boy, a mysterious voice says, "I got a special delivery," introducing the arrival of the unnamed Aboriginal boy at the monastery. In a letter, Sister Eileen talks about him and says, "He's doing fine. Needs a name though," which showed that he was an outsider and marked the beginning of his journey.

The clips show him having a hard time adjusting, watching his surroundings in silence, and slowly learning to read and write. As soft music builds, he starts to show signs of his supernatural powers, like healing animals, calling down light, and connecting with a statue of Jesus on the cross.

The trailer makes it look like the conflict between his spiritual urges and the nuns' strict Christian teachings is growing. Overall, the trailer balances awe and unease, preparing the viewers for a story about faith, identity, and change.

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Cast of The New Boy

The cast of The New Boy is led by two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, who plays the complex and conflicted Sister Eileen, a nun torn between religious duty and spiritual awakening. Aswan Reid makes his debut as the mysterious Aboriginal child, the “New Boy.”

Apart from them, Deborah Mailman plays Sister Mum, a warm yet reserved figure shaped by personal loss, and Wayne Blair plays George, an Aboriginal man who has embraced Christian life.

The ensemble also features Shane McKenzie-Brady, Tyrique Brady, Laiken Beau Woolmington, Kailem Miller, Kyle Miller, Tyzailin Roderick, and Tyler Rockman Spencer as the boys at the monastery, along with brief appearances by Andrew Upton and Tyson Pawley as firefighters.

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The New Boy will release in North American theaters on May 23, 2025.