What is ‘The Adventures of Cliff Booth’ About? Explaining Brad Pitt’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ Sequel

Erin Maxwell April 9, 2026, 10:59 am

In 2019, Quentin Tarantino spun a revisionist historical fairy tale titled Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a nostalgic, fictionalized story set in 1969 Los Angeles that uses dark satire to rewrite some of the city’s darkest events, creating a bittersweet tale of what might have been. The unlikely hero of the take was Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, an enigmatic stuntman whose quiet competence and unshakable confidence make him both a loyal friend and a force to be reckoned with.

Now, The Adventures of Cliff Booth picks up the story, following the further exploits of the somewhat nomadic Hollywood player long after he stopped a group of drugged-up hippies from doing some real damage up in the Hollywood Hills. The upcoming Netflix neo-noir film tracks Booth eight years after Hollywood’s “happy ending” to see what he is up to now as an industry “fixer.”

While much of the story remains under wraps, the ongoing adventures of Mr. Booth will once again take center stage. Here is a look at everything you need to know, including when it will premiere, who stars in the sequel, and what is known about the pic so far. Buckle up, kids. It’s time to ride.

When will The Adventures of Cliff Booth premiere?

The Adventures of Cliff Booth is set for a summer 2026 release on Netflix and in theaters.

Who is Cliff Booth?

Cliff Booth is a Hollywood stuntman, war hero, and best friend to actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio). A two-time Medal of Valor recipient and a survivor of a POW camp, Cliff specialized in knives and hand-to-hand combat while in the armed forces. He served his country in both World War II and the Korean War. And he is a murderer.

At some point in the 1960s, Cliff married a woman named Billie (played onscreen by a barely-seen Rebecca Gayheart), who grew to despise her husband and made no secret of it, often telling him so while drunk and in public. During a fishing trip on their boat, Billie’s Boat, he shot her with a shark gun on impulse (as confirmed in the novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

The novelization also confirms that Cliff killed another stuntman named Buster. Buster owed Cliff money and decided to earn it through dogfighting. He planned to enter a pit bull named Brandy into the fights and rig it so the dog would die in the ring. Liking Brandy far more than Buster, Cliff decided the dog would make a better companion and killed the man with his bare hands.

After his wife’s death, Cliff became a pariah in the industry, but his reputation as a fixer kept him on the outskirts, as did his friendship with actor Rick Dalton, who remained loyal to his friend and longtime stunt double on Bounty Law.

The character of Cliff Booth, particularly his relationship with Rick Dalton, is said to be inspired by real-life stuntman Hal Needham and his relationship with actor Burt Reynolds, sans the murdering and the shark gun (source: Vulture).

Where did we last leave Cliff Booth?

At the end of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Cliff thwarts members of the Manson Family after they break into Rick’s house with the intention of killing everyone inside. The original target is the home of Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha) and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), which once belonged to music producer Terry Melcher, with whom Charles Manson felt betrayed. Instead, Manson sends his teenage lackeys to deal with the “piggies” living in the house, only for them to run into Cliff, who makes quick work of the intruders: Tex (Austin Butler), Sadie (Mikey Madison), and Katie (Madisen Beaty).

After siccing Brandy on Tex, Cliff caves in his face with a boot and repeatedly smashes Katie’s head into every available surface in Rick’s estate, though not before she stabs him in the hip. Despite the wound and high on an acid-dipped cigarette, Cliff keeps fighting. He hurls a can of dog food at Sadie, breaking her nose and sending her screaming through a glass door. Cliff eventually collapses from blood loss and exhaustion, but not before neutralizing the threat. Rick finishes the job with a flamethrower.

Cliff is last seen high as a kite but fine and dandy, being taken to a nearby hospital.

What is The Adventures of Cliff Booth about?

Now set firmly in the ’70s, the legend of Cliff Booth and his antics have made him something of a myth in his hometown of Hollywood. Everyone knows he’s the guy who “subdued those hippie intruders” before they could do real damage to his best buddy Rick Dalton and his wife, Francesca Capucci, but the facts are a little murky. Not that Cliff is in any rush to set the record straight, he knows better than to get in the way of a good story.

15 Best Netflix Movies Ever, Ranked

These days, Cliff is less about stunts and more about leaning into his talent for fixing things. The film features an older, retired Booth navigating Tinseltown as a fixer, handling industry secrets and scandals in a far grittier version of Hollywood than the one we last saw.

More of a spinoff than a direct sequel, the film promises to pay tribute to the darker, rougher edge of ’70s filmmaking.