A director returning to a familiar rolodex of actors is nothing new (fellow horror auteur Mike Flanagan is especially guilty of it), but casting almost an entire call sheet for a feature that isn’t being advertised as a sequel or continuation is a little goofy. Still, Eggers did have good luck with the trio in Nosferatu, which went on to bank $182 million at the international box office. Besides, at this point, it would almost feel weird to watch an Eggers picture that didn’t feature Dafoe. In addition to Nosferatu, the actor previously starred in both The Lighthouse and The Northman. The two are reportedly also in talks to collaborate on an adaptation of A Christmas Carol for Warner Bros. (Between all of this and his Labyrinth sequel, someone please tell Eggers that it’s ok to take a teeny tiny break every once in a while.)
Eggers also had high praise for Depp after her chilling turn as Ellen Hutter in the 2024 feature. “As soon as I met her, it was clear [that she was his star],” Eggers told Yahoo Entertainment last year. “Then she auditioned, and it was every bit as powerful as I expected and just as raw and ferocious as you see on the screen. I’m so proud of what she accomplished in this film.”
No word on whether other Nosferatu alumni like Bill Skarsgård or Nicholas Hoult are circling roles in the wolf pack, but it seems they’d also be familiar with the tone of the film. Like past Eggers projects, Werwulf will be set in 13th century England and feature Old English dialogue (similar to The Witch), with “translations and annotations” for the uninitiated, per The Hollywood Reporter. It’s also “the darkest thing [Eggers has] ever written. By far,” as he claimed at a panel earlier this year, per Collider. It’s a good thing Dafoe, Depp, and Taylor-Johnson have already succumbed to the darkness; now, they just need to contend with the full moon.
