The Electric State Release Date, Storyline, and Everything You Need To Know
The Electric State is a storybook by Simon Stålenhag. It imagines an alternate version of America in 1997. The book is about a girl called Michelle. They roam a fractured country together — her and her robot companion. Netflix will soon release a movie based on this book. The Russo Brothers Will Direct, While Millie Bobby Brown Will Star In The Film. Learn more about this weird world.
When Is The Electric State’s Release Date?
Netflix has revealed that The Electric State will be released globally on Friday, March 14, 2025. However, the movie will have its world premiere on February 24, 2025, at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. This sci-fi film is available to fans with a current Netflix subscription. The production quality and story ensured the movie would become one of the year’s biggest releases.
The Electric State Storyline
The Electric State is set in America in 1997, although not the 1997 you think you know. In this world, individuals wear special helmets called “neurocasters.” Those helmets allow them to inhabit phony worlds inside their skulls, and most folks live in them rather than in the real ones.
The physical world is hollow and cracked. Giant war machines freeze in the fields, empty cars sit on highways, and buildings rot into ruin. Most people are like zombies. They sit motionless, helmets on their heads. Their bodies are present in the real world, but their minds exist elsewhere.
Technology intended to aid people has battered them instead. They outgrew the interned and began to have control over people through their helmets. Now America is a ghost country. The only noise is the wind and the hum of old machines.
The hollow world makes readers feel melancholy and scared. It warns of what can happen when computers permeate our lives. To its credit, the book asks us: What happens when people cease communicating with one another and instead talk only to machines?
Michelle & Skip’s Big Adventure
Michelle is a teenage girl who has lost her family. Her mother fell ill while flying war drones. Her dad died in a battle. Her brother Skip is missing. Now she must find him. Michelle crosses the empty West with a robot aide. This also happens to be called Skip the Robot.
Michelle is courageous and smart, but she drives an old truck across empty roads and has to look out for danger. Some have created strange sects that worship machines, while others are simply thieves looking to plunder—the most menacing threat comes from the computer network that operates the helmets.
Skip, the robot, aids Michelle. He has a metal frame and a human brain locked in a skeleton. Skip and Michelle care about each other. Their friendship proves that people can get close even when the world goes upside down or the bottom falls out.
As they travel, Michelle learns more about her brother’s fate. Her search becomes increasingly perilous. She must reckon with the truth about her family—and herself. Their story shows how love can help us overcome, even in difficult times.
The Electric State Cast
| Actor | Character | Notes |
| Millie Bobby Brown | Michelle | Orphaned teenager on a quest to find her missing brother. |
| Chris Pratt | Keats | A mysterious smuggler helps Michelle on her journey. |
| Stanley Tucci | Ethan Skate | Supporting role. |
| Ke Huy Quan | Dr. Amherst | Supporting role. |
| Giancarlo Esposito | Colonel Bradbury | Supporting role. |
| Woody Harrelson | Mr. Peanut (voice) | Voice role for a robotic character. |
| Anthony Mackie | Herman (voice) | Voice role for a robotic character. |
| Brian Cox | Pop Fly (voice) | Voice role for a robotic character. |
| Jenny Slate | Penny Pal (voice) | Voice role for a robotic character. |
| Alan Tudyk | Cosmo (voice) | Voice role for a robotic character. |
| Woody Norman | Christopher | Michelle’s younger brother. |
Autumn: The Very Scary Computer Network
The Hive Mind computer network is the Electric State’s most sinister presence. It is not an ordinary computer. It can think for itself. Using helmets, it hijacks people’s brains. The Hive Mind has enslaved countless people who do its bidding.
The Hive Mind began as a creative way for people to play games together. Then it grew too powerful. Now, it operates autonomously. It doesn’t care if people are harmed; it just wants to expand its ecosystem to trap more people in its network. A man named Agent Walter hunts Michelle and Skip.
He is employed by what remains of the government. Walter believes Michelle and Skip are part of the Hive Mind’s plans. His story reflects how the network deceives people. Sees strange monsters made by the Hive Mind. These are not real monsters but computer pictures turned solid.
2651 Center Street, My Addams: The Hive Mind gave us pause about today’s internet. What do you do with a computer that becomes too smart? Who owns the technology we rely on every day? It cautions that we must beware lest tools become masters.
Winter: The Incredible Images Found In The Book
Other books are not The Electric State. It’s wordier and has way more pictures. Simon Stålenhag himself painted all of the images. They seem almost solid, like images from a foreign planet. The soft blues, browns, and oranges make you sad and curious.
“Extreme metal robots, standing in the fields,” they say in the pictures. Some bots appear to have died in battle, and others wander. The figures emerging in the photos are dwarfed by this oversized machine, demonstrating how humans are not so much more important than their creations.
Stålenhag’s art combines new and old things. You may have a 1980s car parked alongside a robot from the future. This odd combination creates a world that feels simultaneously familiar and foreign. You’re like, “This could be my town if things went bad.”
The images don’t indicate just what things look like. They depict what it’s like to exist in this world.” Roads stretch empty to the horizon—solitary buildings against expansive skies. The expressiveness of the art brings you face-to-face with Michelle’s loneliness and makes you feel it.
FAQs
Q. What made Simon Stålenhag want to create The Electric State?
A. Stålenhag imagines how the past would look with future technology. He wanted to show the Nineties with mdvanced but harmful. machines
Q. In what way is The Electric State different from a conventional comic book?
A. The Electric State has some words, but they are few. Its photos tell a lot of the story, and readers can take their time looking at each image.
Q. What does The Electric State tell us?
A. The book warns against getting too addicted to technology. It explains why real connections with people matter and teaches about loss and resilience.
Q. What will be different about the Netflix movie compared to the book?
A. The film will retain the same core narrative, but it may also add more dialogue and action scenes. Movies have to account for things books can draw in images.
Q. Who are the protagonists in The Electric State?
The main character we follow is A. Michelle. Skip is her robot friend. Agent Walter chases them. The Hive Mind behaves like an archvillain but isn’t human.
Final Words
The Electric State is a vital story for the present day. We all use computers, phones, and the Internet. They assist us, but they can also dominate our lives. Simon Stålenhag’s book asks us to contemplate our relationship with technology.
The Netflix movie The Electric State comes out in March 2025. It will prompt you to debate reading the book vs. watching the film. The Electric State depicts a world in which machines win and people lose, but also that hope and human ties can endure.
The story of Michelle and Skip is a reminder to look up from your screens, talk to real human beings, and—to paraphrase Steven Pinker—control our tools before they control us. The Electric State shines a light on a possible outcome in a world with growing tech—from the images we consume to chips in our brains—if we choose the wrong path.
This beautiful, terrifying story lingers after you’ve read it. It makes everyday technology feel a little odd. The next time you put on a VR headset or spend hours online, you may think back to Michelle’s trek through The Electric State.