‘The Old Guard 2’ cast and character guide

Charlize Theron as Andy / Andromache of Scythia

Charlize Theron is back in action as both star and producer of The Old Guard 2.

Theron’s career took off in the 1990s and skyrocketed in the early 2000s, thanks to her Academy Award-winning performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003). She’s since received two more Oscar nominations for North Country (2005) and Bombshell (2019).

Over the last 15 years, Theron’s morphed into a full-blown action star, with leading roles in the likes of Prometheus (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Atomic Blonde (2017), and the Fast & Furious franchise (2017–present).

She’s also produced several films through her company, Denver and Delilah Productions, including The Burning Plain (2008), Tully (2018), and Long Shot (2019), all starring herself.

Coming up, Theron will star as Circe in Christopher Nolan’s epic The Odyssey (2026) and the Netflix thriller Apex.

In The Old Guard 2, Theron reprises her role as Andy (a.k.a. Andromache of Scythia), the fearless, now-mortal warrior and founding member of the Old Guard.

While she’s kept quiet about what’s next for Andy, she did share on the Monday, June 23 episode of Today that she did her own stunts, including dangling off the side of a helicopter.

“It was actually, weirdly, a lot of fun,” she admitted. “But I have a fear of heights and I’m not very fond of helicopters, so when we came up with this… part of me was like, ‘I don’t need to die.'”

Uma Thurman as Discord

One of the fresh faces joining The Old Guard 2 is none other than Uma Thurman, who was nominated for an Oscar for her turn as Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction (1994) and proved unforgettable as the Bride in Kill Bill (2003–2004).

Her career encompasses blockbusters, rom-coms, arthouse fare, and works of provocation, with notable examples being Batman & Robin (1997), Les Misérables (1998), The House That Jack Built (2018), Red, White & Royal Blue (2023), and Oh, Canada (2024).

Next up, she’s set to star in Dexter: Resurrection (2025), the latest entry in ongoing Dexter franchise.

In The Old Guard 2, Thurman plays Discord, a deadly, mysterious figure known as “the first of the immortals,” who goes head-to-head with Andy.

“Discord is shrouded in mystery throughout the movie,” Thurman explained to Tudum. “She’s an immortal. It turns out that she’s one of the earliest and possibly the oldest immortal, and she’s surfaced after hundreds of years. As one of the oldest immortals, she’s been alone the longest and has come back with a lot of angst and frustration in her motivation — not a great fan of humanity, very unlike the movie’s hero, Andy.”

KiKi Layne as Nile Freeman

KiKi Layne kicked off her film career in Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning If Beale Street Could Talk (2018). Since then, she’s lent her talents to movies like Native Son (2019), Coming 2 America (2021), Don’t Worry Darling (2022), and Dandelion (2024), the latter of which she also executive produced.

Layne returns as Nile, a young immortal and former Marine who’s no longer the rookie of the Old Guard. In the sequel, Nile is much more confident, but she’s still carving out her role.

“She’s a bit more of the team, but still figuring out where her place is,” Layne shared on the June 23 episode of New York Live. “Uma Thurman’s character has some ideas about what that place might be.”

Chiwetel Ejiofor as James Copley

Award-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor has appeared in a vast range of projects, from his Oscar-nominated performance as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave (2013) to his memorable supporting turns in Love Actually (2003), The Martian (2015), and The Lion King (2019).

Marvel fans know him as Karl Mordo in the Doctor Strange films (2016–2022), but he also turned heads in recent films such as The Life of Chuck (2024) and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025). He also wrote, directed, and starred in 2024’s Rob Peace.

He’s got a full slate coming up, with roles in Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Children of Blood and Bone.

Here, Ejiofor reprises his role as James Copley, a former CIA operative who’s now working with the Old Guard to make up for a past betrayal. The part is much more physically demanding this time around, which Ejiofor told io9 that he “enjoyed.”

“I was really excited when I was reading the script, and it was like, ‘Oh, Copley gets into this now?’ That’s great. He needs a tap on the shoulder sometimes — people tell him he’s not immortal, too,” he said. “I love the idea of him — not just in the technical sense — helping the team organize and deal with the operations using his skillset. The actual getting onto the field and really getting stuck in is a really great addition to Copley’s character.”

Marwan Kenzari as Joe / Yusuf al-Kaysani

Dutch-Tunisian actor Marwan Kenzari has racked up an impressive list of roles, but many likely recognize him as Jafar from Disney’s live-action Aladdin (2019).

He’s also appeared in Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Black Adam (2022), The Return (2024), and season 2 of The Night Agent (2025).

In The Old Guard 2, Kenzari is back as Yusuf al-Kaysani ( a.k.a. Joe), an immortal and former merchant who’s part of the Old Guard. He’s still with Nicky (Luca Marinelli), whom he first met on opposite sides during the Crusades.

During a recent interview, Kenzari hinted at deeper emotional layers for the fan-favorite duo: “Their characters even go deeper together in finding out who they want to be for each other at this point in the journey.”

Luca Marinelli as Nicky / Nicolò di Genova

Italian actor Luca Marinelli has long been a regular in Italian cinema, but The Old Guard helped launch him onto the global stage.

Over the past five years, Marinelli has taken on roles in The Eight Mountains (2022), Mussolini: Son of the Century (2025), and Paternal Leave (2025). He also recently lent his voice and likeness to Neil in Hideo Kojima’s anticipated Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (2025).

Marinelli reprises his role as Nicolò di Genova, known as Nicky, a former Catholic priest who, after turning into an immortal warrior, has fought beside Andy for centuries.

Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker / Sébastien Le Livre

Matthias Schoenaerts has been in the game since his teens, making his big-screen debut in the Oscar-nominated Daens (1992). Since then, he’s racked up acclaimed roles in Bullhead (2011), Rust and Bone (2012), The Danish Girl (2015), Red Sparrow (2018), and the HBO miniseries The Regime (2024).

Next, Schoenaerts will suit up as villain Krem of the Yellow Hills in the upcoming Supergirl.

In The Old Guard 2, Schoenaerts returns as Sébastien Le Livre, a.k.a. Booker, Andy’s former right-hand man who’s now rotting in exile after betraying the squad.

Vân Veronica Ngô as Quỳnh

Vân Veronica Ngô has been a multi-hyphenate star for more than 20 years, making a name for herself as an actress and a singer. With four albums to her name and roles in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Bright (2017), Da 5 Bloods (2020), and The Princess (2022), Vân’s built a career as bold as it is versatile.

She’s back as Quỳnh, the immortal who was once part of the Old Guard and is now on a mission for vengeance after surviving centuries trapped underwater.

Vân revealed to Tudum that the sequel picks up right where we left off. “For her, the most cruel thing about being underwater for so long is seeing that everybody moved on. When she comes back to search for Andy after 500 years, she’s carrying so much emotion: missing, loving, longing, hatred, betrayal.”

Henry Golding as Tuah

Another new face in The Old Guard is Henry Golding, who’s best known for charming audiences in rom-coms like Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Last Christmas (2019). But he’s been flexing his range for years, with roles in A Simple Favor (2018) and its 2025 sequel, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024), and season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers (2025).

Golding plays Tuah, an old friend of the immortal crew. The character didn’t even have a name at the time Golding was circling the role, but he eventually suggested Tuah, which in Malaysian means “luck.”

“Henry brings a sense of nobility to this that we haven’t really seen because the Old Guard team live out of a backpack and they’re just on to the next mission,” Theron told Tudum. “Henry showed up with this beautiful, nobility and wisdom that served the character Tuah really well. He holds so much mystery and long-lived secrets of the Old Guard. Tuah’s a character that brings real perspective on how long our immortals have been around.”