Danny Ramirez Joins Universal's 'Miami Vice '85' Starring Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler
Danny Ramirez has joined the cast of Universal Pictures' Miami Vice '85, a feature film that brings the iconic 1980s television series back to the big screen with Joseph Kosinski directing. The cast is led by Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler, with Alden Ehrenreich, Camila Morrone, and Whitney Peak also recently announced as part of the ensemble. Deadline broke the exclusive casting report on 27 August 2026 (Deadline).
The role Ramirez will play has not been disclosed.
Kosinski, whose credits include Top Gun: Maverick and Tron: Legacy, also produces alongside Dylan Clark through Dylan Clark Productions. The script comes from Dan Gilroy, writer-director of Nightcrawler, building on an earlier draft by Eric Warren Singer. Gilroy's screenplay is based on characters created by Anthony Yerkovich, who executive produced the original Miami Vice series alongside Michael Mann.
The film draws inspiration from the pilot episode of the landmark Universal Television series Miami Vice, which ran from 1984 to 1989 and helped define an era of television with its pastel-soaked aesthetic and synth-driven soundtrack. The feature adaptation is set to explore the glamour and corruption of mid-1980s Miami.
Universal is treating the project as an event. The film will be shot for Imax and is dated for release on 19 May 2028 — a Memorial Day corridor slot that studios reserve for their biggest theatrical bets. Production is set to begin in 2026.
For Universal, the picture sits within the studio's broader strategy of reviving legacy properties for the theatrical market, rather than routing them to streaming. Sara Scott, EVP of Production Development, and Creative Executive Christina Hoffrogge are overseeing the project on the studio's behalf.
Ramirez has been building momentum across franchise and prestige projects. He recently wrapped production on Todd Haynes' De Noche, opposite Pedro Pascal, as well as Baton, a film he both wrote and directed. Audiences will see him next in Marvel's Avengers: Doomsday. He is represented by CAA, Anonymous Content, Brillstein Partners, and the law firm Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman.
For Ramirez, the Miami Vice '85 role adds another major-studio film to a résumé that already spans the Marvel Cinematic Universe and independent cinema — and places him alongside two of the most in-demand leading men working today. For audiences, it is one more signal that Universal is investing seriously in a property many fans have wanted to see revived on the big screen.
