Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Phoebe Dynevor, Djimon Hounsou and Whitney Peak about their work on ‘Thrash’, Hounsou’s first reaction to the screenplay, the relationship between Dynevor and Peak’s characters, and the challenges of filming in water.

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(L to R) Djimon Hounsou as Dr. Dale Edwards and Whitney Peak as Dakota in ‘Thrash’. Photo: Ben King/Netflix © 2026.

Moviefone: To begin with, Djimon, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and your character, and did you understand his motivations and how you wanted to play him immediately?

Djimon Hounsou: Yes. My first reaction was a yes. My first reaction was, hopefully, we can bring some awareness about how we’re affecting climate change. That mixed with a bit of a fictional story and a dynamic that plays with these two young ladies. It made it a potentially fun movie and realistic in so many ways as well.

Phoebe Dynevor as Lisa in ‘Thrash’. Photo: Ben King/Netflix © 2026.

MF: Phoebe, can you talk about the urgency of the situation your character finds herself in at the beginning of the movie, and what she’s willing to do to protect herself and her unborn baby?

Phoebe Dynevor: I think that was the magic of the character and the script for me was this idea of a mother’s instinct and doing whatever they can to save their child. We pictured that (famous) image of the woman holding up the car to save her child. Lisa has no choice but to go. But you can’t control labor, you can’t control when your child is going to be born. It happens and she must face it. So, it’s really about survival and her baby, their survival together. There’s a lot of challenges she must face. It’s like one thing after the next and then balancing the levels of childbirth and how the contractions get more intense, and her surroundings get more intense too. So that was fun to play.

Whitney Peak as Dakota in ‘Thrash’. Photo: Netflix © 2026.

MF: Whitney, can you talk about the friendship that forms between Lisa and Dakota, and what it was like creating that on screen with Phoebe?

Whitney Peak: I think, in a weird way, yes, Dakota does bond with Lisa, but I think a big part of it is how much she relates to Lisa’s baby, in a weird way. Because there’s that scene where Lisa’s talking to her baby, and she’s saying, “It’s not safe yet. It’s not time to come out yet so stay inside.” I think that’s been Dakota’s internal monologue the entire time. I think that relationship really does help her heal herself in a lot of ways.

Phoebe Dynevor as Lisa in ‘Thrash’. Photo: Ben King/Netflix © 2026.

MF: Finally, Phoebe, what was it like for you to constantly film in water and how challenging was the production?

PD: I was once told by an actor to never shoot in water and now I know why. It was a challenging experience, but it was in a great way. We shot in Melbourne in the middle of winter, so it was cold, but it was fun. The rain and the wind, that was all real, that was all happening. Those were machines that would pump that into our face, so we were acting against those challenges too. But for most of the shoot, we were in a tank with the whole crew. So, everyone was in their wetsuits. We were all in it together. It wasn’t like the actors were going through it and everyone else was just watching. It was very much a team effort.

A scene from ‘Thrash’. Photo: Netflix © 2026.

What is the plot of ‘Thrash’?

When a Category 5 hurricane decimates a coastal town, the storm surge brings devastation, chaos, and something far more frightening: hungry sharks.

Who is in the cast of ‘Thrash’?

• Phoebe Dynevor as Lisa Fields
• Whitney Peak as Dakota Edwards
• Djimon Hounsou as Dale Edwards
• Alyla Browne as Dee Olsen
• Stacy Clausen as Ron Olsen
• Dante Ubaldi as Will Olsen

Phoebe Dynevor as Lisa in ‘Thrash’. Photo: Ben King/Netflix © 2026.

List of Movies Featuring Sharks:

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