Obsession star Inde Navarrette may have just signed on for Marvel’s upcoming X-Men reboot, but that’s not stopping her from taking on smaller and weirder projects. Case in point: Navarrette is slated to star in The Waffle House Index, a sci-fi thriller about a Waffle House waitress dealing with an overnight shift from hell.
The news comes courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter. THR writes that the film has just been picked up by Apple Original Films. It features a screenplay by Andrew Nunnelly, one that was featured on the 2025 Black List (a list of the most acclaimed unproduced scripts circulating in Hollywood). The Waffle House Index is slated to be directed by Louis Paxton (The Incomer). The film will be produced by Plan B Entertainment, with Navarrette herself executive producing.
The title of the film refers to the infamous barometer Waffle House restaurants use while under hurricane threat. A Waffle House Index can range from green to yellow to red depending on how severe weather conditions are and whether a given restaurant stays open or not. In short, if the Waffle House Index is red, it’s time to panic.
The index may well reach the red zone in this movie, as it’s teased that Navarrette’s beleaguered character will deal with everything from a rogue gunman to flash floods to crocodile attacks to nuclear missiles and even a hidden bunker located underneath the Waffle House itself (hey, it is a sci-fi movie).
Alongside X-Men, this marks the first new project for Navarrette following her breakout performance in 2026’s Obsession. In IGN’s Obsession review, Matt Donato writes, “Obsession should and will put Barker on the map as a horror filmmaker you need to watch. Thanks to fantastic turns by Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette, you’ll be addicted to this sour Valentine’s Day counterprogramming. The film plays on familiar romance and monkey’s paw tropes, turning a wish against the wishee, but Barker’s execution takes things to the next level. In the film’s simplicity lay the chance to go for broke, putting all efforts into the lengths Nikki is willing to go for her beloved. With that focus and Barker’s fearlessness, Obsession becomes one hell of a maximalist ride.”
For more on the new X-Men movie, find out why Wolverine isn’t needed in the reboot.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
