Netflix Western ‘The Harder They Fall’ Halts Production After Positive COVID-19 Test

Netflix’s Idris Elba–Regina King western The Harder They Fall has halted production after an actor has tested positive for COVID-19. Production officially stopped on Thursday and it’s unclear when filming will resume as the streaming giant was unavailable for comments when this story broke.

According to Deadline, production on the high-profile project has been taking place for the past five weeks in New Mexico.

It hasn’t been uncommon for TV and movie productions to have to pivot due to COVID-19 cases in 2020. Positive tests have forced some to pause, while others have continued shooting, quarantining the individual.

A number of productions have implemented a pod system keeping actors, directors, and primary on-set workers separate from other groups. An example of how this system works was with Jurassic World: Dominion, which had its first unit shut down due to positive COVID-19 cases, however, the second unit has stayed on the job.

Elba was one of the very first stars to publicly admit that he and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, had contracted COVID-19 around the start of the pandemic. The Harder They Fall had originally stopped production back in mid-March as did most projects at the onset of the pandemic.

The Harder They Fall centers on an outlaw who discovers that the man who killed his parents has been released from prison. He forms a clan of trusted companions to help extract his revenge. Director Jeymes Samuel works off of a script from writer Boaz Yakin. Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, LaKeith Stanfield, and Delroy Lindo also star in the movie.

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Stream The Harder They Fall on Netflix