Sydney Sweeney looks unrecognisable as a brunette in the new trailer for Ron Howard’s Eden

Sydney Sweeney looks worlds away from her Hollywood blonde bombshell look thanks to her dramatic makeover for her role in the film Eden. 

The 27-year-old actress has ditched her long golden locks for a shorter brunette-shaded hairstyle in scenes as her alter ego, real-life German settler Margret Wittmer, in the trailer for director Ron Howard’s survival thriller.

© Jasin Boland

© NBC

The trailer for Eden shows a group of setters, Doctor Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law), Dora Strauch Ritter (Vanessa Kirby), Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl), Eloise Bosquet (Ana de Armas) and Margret (Sydney) battling for survival as they travelled to a vacant Galápagos island in the early 20th century, And the only danger they pose to themselves is the other people they share the place with. 

© Jasin Boland

It is based on the true story of a group of European settlers who set up a home on a Galápagos island in 1929. Sydney’s character Margret was four months pregnant when she moved to the Galápagos’ southernmost island Floreana, in 1932 with her husband Heinz and her stepson Harry Wittmer (Jonathan Tittel).

Margret, who wrote about her experience in her book Floreana: A Woman’s Pilgrimage to the Galápagos, died on Floreana Island at the age of 95, and was buried on the island in 2000. And Sydney previously said it was a dream to work with Ron and was “amazed” by Eden being a true story. 

Speaking during a Q+A for Eden at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2024, Sydney said, “It’s every actor’s dream to work with Ron. I grew up loving your films, but being able to work with you, I have just learned what an amazing human being you are.”

The young actress continued, “And when Margret came to me, I was absolutely amazed by [it being] a true story, and it wasn’t her choice. And she had to follow her husband’s footsteps, and she had no idea what she was getting herself into. She was a child at that!”

Watch the trailer teaser:

“And it was just such a crazy character journey for her and for all the other characters. And I absolutely wanted to dive into it. And with such an amazing cast, I mean, this is like a dream to be able to be a part of, but I’m just really lucky.”