The Uprising (2026) ends with defeat turned into legend. After the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, England's uprising of commoners against poll taxes, is crushed, surviving Ploughman spares King Richard II and becomes an outlaw. The film is a Paul Greengrass historical epic about that revolt. CultureMap Dallas describes Andrew Garfield as Ploughman and Woody Norman as teenage Richard II in the medieval rebellion report.
Table of Contents
- Who marches on London?
- How does the revolt collapse?
- What returns one year later?
- Why does he spare the king?
Who marches on London?
Ploughman, Wat Tyler and preacher John Ball lead commoners crushed by post-Black Death poll taxes. JoBlo summarizes their march to London to demand relief from taxes raised to fund war in the rebellion review. The march gives desperate villagers a shared voice.
Tyler supplies force, Ball supplies words, and Ploughman supplies the ground-level view of plague loss and debt. At Mile End and Smithfield, the king meets the rebels. He offers charters and freedom, and the crowd believes relief has come.
How does the revolt collapse?
The promises fail. Phys.org explains that Richard reneges, Mayor William Walworth kills Wat Tyler at Smithfield, and the revolt loses its leader in the historical revolt breakdown.
The collapse moves fast: Ploughman survives, but his cause does not. The fields go quiet, and royal power returns with punishment.
- royal charters are declared worthless
- leaders are seized and executed
- at least 1,500 rebels are killed during suppression, according to Tech Times
What returns one year later?
One year later, Ploughman visits his plague-dead family's graves. He covers his face with grave soil and emerges in a green hood with a band of outlaws. The final scenes shift to forest ambush.
SYFY Wire describes the hooded band striking Richard's forest convoy with arrows, killing guards, while Ploughman faces the Mayor of London in single combat in the Robin Hood connection guide. Ploughman kills the mayor. He then pins Richard down in the dirt. The king who once betrayed a crowd now has no crowd to hide behind.
Why does he spare the king?
Ploughman spares Richard to leave him living in fear of the people. JustWatch Guides links that choice to their earlier bonding over trauma. Mercy becomes a threat.
Richard keeps his life but loses safety, because the poor now watch the roads and woods. Greengrass never names Robin Hood, presenting this as a fictional origin. CinemaBlend notes critics call the upbeat coda tacked-on, so viewers should expect violent betrayal, not a traditional Robin Hood adventure.