He has since appeared in miniseries such as Dark Angel (2016), Troy: Fall of a City (2018), The Drowning, Hollington Drive (both 2021), After the Flood and Coma (both 2024), and starred as Sean Meredith on the first season of ITV's The Bay (2019).
Next, he guest-starred in an episode of the BBC drama series The Street, winning praise for his "sterling work" as TA soldier Private Nick Calshaw,[12] who returns from Afghanistan with life-changing injuries.
It's a performance rooted in righteousness, but Armstrong also taps into the inner conflict of a swallowed power dynamic—he locates both the lust and queasiness of playing a Gestapo officer, and having to own that guise, and all the action it entails, at inopportune times and at a moment's notice".
[15] That same year, he played the supporting role of Skinner in the big-budget action adventure film Edge of Tomorrow, which Variety called a "cleverly crafted and propulsively executed sci-fi thriller".
[19] In 2018, Armstrong earned strong notices for his work in two projects: firstly, his portrayal of a Spartan king in the Netflix historical miniseries Troy: Fall of a City,[20] and then for his "convincingly exasperated" caricature of Bob Geldof in an episode of the Sky Arts anthology series Urban Myths.
Here he was oleaginous and creepy, all simmering, smiling menace";[25] while Dan Einav of the Financial Times felt that "Armstrong's ability to slip between affable mentor and depraved predator is key to his remarkably convincing performance".
[26] Speaking to Metro shortly before the film's premiere on BBC Two, Armstrong admitted to having been reluctant to take the part: "It kind of made me feel a bit sick [but] I had a good discussion with my agent and then I decided yeah, I'm going to go for this ... to raise awareness for people who might still be suffering".