Uwais's natural charisma and great camera presence encouraged Evans to cast him as the leading role for his first martial art movie, Merantau.

Uwais also appeared briefly in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), alongside The Raid 2 co-star Yayan Ruhian.

[25][26] In the same year, it was announced that Uwais was cast in the lead role of Kai Jin on the Netflix series, Wu Assassins.

[30] In 2019, Uwais starred in the action comedy film Stuber alongside Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista.

[31] In the same year, it was announced that Uwais will appear in a film called China Town Express playing a man who must fight through the gangland of New York to save his family after the disappearance of his son during a gang's killing spree.

[41] In May 2023, Iko Uwais was announced to star in a sci-fi thriller Ash directed by Flying Lotus alongside Aaron Paul, Eiza González, Beulah Koale, and Kate Elliott.

[42] On 25 June 2012, Uwais married singer Audy Item at the Hotel Gran Mahakam in Jakarta.