Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes era isn’t ending — it’s evolving. The actor, who spent 15 years in the MCU as the Winter Soldier, is now stepping into a role that feels like a full-circle return to the kind of work that first drew him to acting: raw, intimate, and unrecognisable. In Fjord, the new film from Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, Stan plays Mihai Gheorghiu, a devout Christian man uprooting his family from Romania to a remote Norwegian village. The film, already generating quiet buzz at early screenings, hinges on a single, relentless shot technique, a choice that Mungiu made not just for style, but to trap the audience inside Mihai’s suffocating reality. Stan says the physical transformation. The shaved head, the side growth, the constant glasses, wasn’t just cosmetic. It was a psychological anchor. 'I didn’t even take the glasses off when we weren’t shooting,' he told Collider. 'We were living in that house. We were living in that village.' That level of immersion isn’t new for Stan, but the shift in tone is. After years of playing a character defined by trauma and loyalty, he’s now embodying someone whose faith becomes both shield and weapon. The film’s central conflict. Allegations of abuse that blur the line between vigilance and persecution, doesn’t offer easy answers. And Stan admits he doesn’t know the full truth of Mihai’s story either. 'I don’t know how much of it is real,' he said. 'But I do know what it did to the film.' That ambiguity is intentional. Mungiu’s direction forces viewers to sit with discomfort, much like the characters do. It’s a far cry from the polished spectacle of the MCU, but Stan sees it as the next phase of his career. 'I’m finally getting to meet the directors I’ve always wanted to work with,' he said. 'This was an ongoing conversation for ten years.' The timing, he adds, felt right. Not because of Marvel, but because of the weight of the project itself. And while he’s currently filming Batman, he’s not letting that stop him from taking risks. 'Sometimes they wait,' he said. 'And when they do, you’re lucky.' Fjord arrives in select theatres this December. No trailers yet. Just one long, unbroken look at a man trying to hold on to something he can no longer see.