Why Captain Andrew From Operation Christmas Drop Looks So Familiar

Halloween just ended, and we haven't reached Thanksgiving yet. You know what that means: It's time for an onslaught of Christmas movies.

Netflix has given the Hallmark Channel a run for its money in cranking out numerous Christmas movies this time of the year. Holidate has already put people into the festive mood by following its two attractive leads through an entire year of holiday-themed shenanigans, and 2020's not done yet. The streaming service will see the likes of Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, The Princess Switch: Switched Again, and Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square be released before the year is through. However, before we get to any of that, Christmas lovers can now watch Operation Christmas Drop on Netflix. 

Operation Christmas Drop sees Kat Graham's congressional aide Erica travel to a remote, beachside Air Force base during the Christmas season, at the request of her boss. Her objective is to find various reasons to take money away from the facility, which causes her to clash with Captain Andrew Jantz, played by Alexander Ludwig. There's a good chance you've seen Ludwig pop up in something you've seen in the past, even if you didn't realize it at the time.

Despite only being 28 years old, Ludwig already has quite an impressive résumé, dating back to 2000. He got his start in various direct-to-video movies and short films, but in 2012, he received his big break in the worldwide phenomenon The Hunger Games.

Ludwig plays Cato, the male tribute from District 2, in the film. He's a "Career" — meaning he's from a wealthy District in the nation and has been preparing for years to participate in the Games – and is heavily favored to win, making him a fierce antagonist to Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Cato is one of the final survivors, ending up on the cornucopia with the District 12 tributes before dying after Katniss shoots him with an arrow.

Ludwig received a lot of praise for his role, winning Best Villain at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards. He also won Best Fight alongside Lawrence and Hutcherson at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards.

Ludwig's work in The Hunger Games gave him a chance to show off his physical acumen. It wasn't a surprise to see him pop up in more action-oriented projects like Lone Survivor and Blackway. However, his best-known gig to date is the role of Bjorn Ironside on the hit History series Vikings. 

Ludwig joined the cast in the show's second season as one the sons of Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) and Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick). Bjorn is Ragnar's eldest son and wants to follow in his father's footsteps, with one of his most famous exploits involving hunting down and ultimately killing a bear with only a knife and a hatchet. He ends up becoming the King of Kattegat, and as of the midpoint of season 6, he's still alive. Fans will have to wait until the final 10 episodes of the last season air on History, which should hopefully come at some point in 2021, to see whether Bjorn ends up making it out of the series alright. 

In between his time filming for Vikings, Ludwig has also found the time to continue appearing in an array of films. In 2015 alone, he appeared in two films with pretty much the same name: Final Girl and The Final Girls. Both are horror films, but the former deals with a young woman who becomes the perfect killing machine, while the latter is more satirical and focuses on the daughter of a famous scream queen who finds herself pulled into the plot of one of her mother's beloved horror films.

In 2019, Ludwig starred as Roy Pearce in the Roland Emmerich-directed war film Midway, and most recently, you may have seen him in Bad Boys for Life, opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. He plays Dorn, the tech expert of AMMO.

While he's been involved with a lot of action over the years, Ludwig finally gets a chance to show off his more sensitive side in the Netflix romantic-comedy Operation Christmas Drop.