Walton Goggins Is Bringing His Villain Energy to 'Miami Vice '85'

Walton Goggins is trading the wasteland for the neon. Deadline reported on October 1 that the Fallout star has joined Universal's Miami Vice '85 as a villain — a henchman serving under John Leguizamo's cartel kingpin — in what is shaping up to be one of 2028's most star-packed productions.

The film, directed by Joseph Kosinski from a script by Dan Gilroy, stars Michael B. Jordan as Ricardo Tubbs and Austin Butler as Sonny Crockett. Cameras are set to roll in November, with an IMAX release dated for May 19, 2028.

Goggins, the Perfect Addition

Casting Goggins as a cartel enforcer is the kind of move that makes you wonder why it took this long. The actor has spent the last decade building a reputation as television and film's most magnetic menace — from Justified's Boyd Crowder to his scene-stealing turns in Fallout and beyond, he specializes in villains you can't take your eyes off.

As a henchman to Leguizamo's kingpin, Goggins gets to do what he does best: bring unpredictable, lived-in menace to a role that could have been generic in lesser hands. The dynamic between his character and Leguizamo's boss should be one of the film's most electric elements.

A Heavyweight Production

Miami Vice '85 is assembling serious firepower behind the camera as well. Kosinski, coming off massive-scale successes, brings a proven feel for sleek, high-gloss action spectacle — exactly the visual language a Miami Vice revival demands. Gilroy's script promises the kind of morally tangled crime storytelling he does better than almost anyone.

The Jordan-Butler pairing as Tubbs and Crockett is the headline grab, but the supporting cast is quietly becoming the story. Leguizamo as a cartel kingpin is inspired casting, and now Goggins as his right hand gives the film's criminal side real dramatic weight.

With an IMAX release locked for May 19, 2028, Universal is clearly positioning this as a summer tentpole rather than a nostalgic curio. The 2006 film has its cult defenders, but this version — with this cast, this director, and this scale — is aiming much bigger. November can't come soon enough.

Setting the story in 1985 is a shrewd choice that distinguishes the revival from both the original series and the 2006 film. The mid-eighties Miami of pastel suits, synth scores, and cocaine-cowboy excess is practically a character in itself — and it's a world Kosinski's glossy, maximalist visual style was born to capture. With Goggins and Leguizamo anchoring the criminal underworld, the film's villains may end up as memorable as its heroes.