Mason Thames and McKenna Grace Filmed 'Nimrods' Before 'Regretting You' — and They'd Team Up Again
Mason Thames has set the record straight on the timeline: the Green Day-inspired road-trip comedy Nimrods came first, and Regretting You followed right after. Thames revealed the shooting order in an interview with Deadline, published 15 August 2026, as Nimrods arrived in theatres.
The two young actors — described by Deadline as a real-life couple — have now played romantic opposites on screen twice, and both times the cameras rolled in quick succession. Thames plays Tommy, the frontman of a fictional punk band called Analog Dogs, in Nimrods. The plot kicks off when Tommy's older brother Wayne (Keen Ruffalo) pulls an elaborate prank: Tommy thinks Analog Dogs have been invited to open for Green Day on New Year's Eve in Los Angeles. He sets off from Kansas City with bandmates Fred (Kylr Coffman) and Chad (Ryan Foust), only to discover the booking isn't what it seemed. Along the way he meets Olivia, a punk musician played by McKenna Grace, after catching her perform live.
Inaugural Entertainment released Nimrods theatrically on 14 August across more than 1,000 screens in the United States, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film is rated R. Lee Kirk co-wrote and directed, and the cast also includes Jenna Fischer. The official trailer lists Green Day members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool among the cast (YouTube).
The music carries a real punk pedigree. Jakob Armstrong — son of Billie Joe Armstrong — wrote the songs for the Analog Dogs band. Both Thames and Grace appear on the Nimrods soundtrack. Kirk told Deadline that Grace wanted to contribute one of her own songs to the film, and praised both actors as "fantastic, creative kids" who were game for whatever the production threw at them.
Nimrods was not the pair's only collaboration. Regretting You, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's 2019 bestseller, opened in US theatres on 24 October 2025 and arrived on digital platforms on 25 November 2025 (Deadline). The PG-13 drama stars Grace and Thames alongside Allison Williams, and follows a mother and daughter navigating grief and betrayal.
What makes the pairing unusual is how quickly the two projects stacked up — and how different they are. One is an R-rated punk comedy on the open road; the other is a family drama drawn from one of the bestselling novelists working today. The connective thread is simply two actors who found a rhythm together on set and then carried it into a second film almost immediately.
Thames told Deadline that if he and Grace ever take on a third project, it would have to feel special. "We'd snatch it up," he said — when the right moment comes.
