I have said before that, while failure is rarely something I root for — especially when it comes to the movie business — I personally think that the premature cancellation of the Dark Universe is one of the best things to happen to the horror genre in recent memory. If 2017’s The Mummy had been a hit and successfully kickstarted a shared universe based on Universal’s monster movie IP, we would not have gotten refreshing reimaginings of these characters, such as how Leigh Whannell made one of the best horror movies in recent memory with 2020’s The Invisible Man. Now, the filmmaker is taking on another beloved, golden era thriller with Wolf Man.
The world has seen countless werewolf movies and TV shows over the years since 1941’s The Wolf Man, but all of them are clearly inspired by (or, in one case, a direct remake of) the iconic creature feature in some shape or form. The question is, what is Whannell’s plan to give this chilling Universal classic a fresh spin, who is donning the fur this time, and when does the transformation begin? Let’s take things one at a time as we cover what we know about this upcoming horror movie in our following guide.
What Is The Wolf Man Release Date?
Wolf Man is currently set to come crawling into theaters on January 17, 2025, but it seems like a missed opportunity to not put it out four days earlier when that month experience its only full moon, according to AstroSeek. Regardless, it is the first horror movie on our upcoming 2025 movies schedule, unless you count the January 10th release of the sci-fi thriller, Companion.
Coincidentally, a film called Dog Man comes out just a couple of weeks later, but that is actually an adaptation of a series of children’s books about a superhero canine from Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey.
Christopher Abbott Leads The Wolf Man Cast
The title role of Universal’s The Wolf Man was played by horror movie icon Lon Chaney Jr., meaning the star of this reboot has some big paws to fill. Luckily, the new Wolf Man cast has been blessed with a profoundly talented ensemble, including the actor in the lead.
Christopher Abbott
Fans should be relieved to know that the star of Wolf Man is a horror veteran: Christopher Abbott, who is known for 2017’s post-apocalyptic A24 horror movie favorite, It Comes at Night, and Brandon Cronenberg’s deeply disturbing Possessor from 2020, most notably.
Playing a lycanthrope will serve as something of a reversal to his antagonistic role in the upcoming Kraven the Hunter movie, in which he will be the one at odds with the animalistic title character. Abbott also had a recurring role on HBO’s Girls, played the lead of Hulu’s miniseries adaptation of Catch-22, and had a brief, but pivotal part in the Oscar-winning Poor Things.
Julia Garner
Abbott’s Martha Marcy May Marlene co-star, Julia Garner (who also played the roommate of his Girls character in an episode), is also a horror veteran, having starred in cannibal drama We Are What We Are and The Last Exorcism Part II in 2013.
She went on gain greater notoriety for her multi-Emmy-winning performance in Netflix’s Ozark cast as Ruth Langmore before playing the lead role in the platform’s 2022 miniseries, Inventing Anna. Garner also has an upcoming superhero movie in her future, having been cast in the MCU’s Fantastic Four reboot as a new take on the Silver Surfer and another horror movie due in 2026 from Zach Cregger called Weapons.
Sam Jaeger
Sam Jaeger’s previous horror experience includes 2009’s Within, the short film that later inspired 2020’s The Cleansing Hour, and Netflix’s 2022’s miniseries, Devil in Ohio. He is better known, however, for playing Joel Graham in NBC’s Parenthood cast and starring in movies like 2014’s American Sniper and The Eyes of Tammy Faye from 2021. Jaeger more recently joined Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale cast in 2018 as Mark Tuello.
Matilda Firth
Matilda Firth actually made her acting debut in a horror-centric title — Peacock’s Vampire Academy series as a younger version of Mia McKenna Bruce’s character — before making her feature-length debut with a small role in Disney+’s Disenchanted in 2022. The young British actor’s first major role was on the UK sitcom, Hullraisers, which she followed with a miniseries crime drama called Time in 2023 and another English limited series called Coma in 2024. Firth also has a sci-fi thriller on the way called Subservience.
Reimagines A Universal Monster Movie Classic About A Man Becoming A Werewolf
As established, Wolf Man is a new take on the aforementioned Universal Monster Movie in which a man named Larry Talbot is bitten by what appears to be a wolf and becomes cursed to transform into a dangerous creature when the moon is full. Plot details for the reboot have been kept mostly in the dark, but a first look at CinemaCon 2024 saw Abbott’s character seemingly become affected by the lycanthropic curse while trying to protect his family.
One interesting thing about the original is that, unlike most other Universal Monster Movies like Frankenstein or Dracula, it is a completely original work not based on a specific source material. Of course, lycanthropic lore had already existed for centuries, but director George Waggner and writer Curd Siodmak’s film was one of the first bring the topic to the big screen.
Leigh Whannell Directs Wolf Man
The Wolf Man reboot appears to be in the best of hands with Leigh Whannell at the helm and also writing with Corbett Tuck, Lauren Shuker Blum, and Rebecca Angelo. The film is his directorial follow-up to his take on fellow Universal Monsters classic, The Invisible Man, which is now regarded as one of the best horror movie remakes as of late.
The Australian filmmaker first broke out as the writer of the first installment of the Saw movies and returned to pen the next two before reuniting with director James Wan to make 2007’s Dead Silence and launch another beloved horror movie franchise with the Insidious movies. The third installment of the haunted house thrillers served as Whannell’s directorial debut before he shifted gears with an inventive sci-fi flick from 2018 called Upgrade.
Ryan Gosling Is An Executive Producer
Before Christopher Abbott stepped in, Wolf Man was set to star Ryan Gosling in what would have been his horror debut — not counting early roles in family-friendly horror anthology TV shows Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? and in 1996’s Frankenstein and Me. While the three-time Academy Award nominee exited the lead along with original writer and director Derek Cianfrance, he does maintain an executive producer credit, per Deadline.
Fellow EPs include Whannell, Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, and Mel Turner. Jason Blum is also producing Wolf Man under Blumhouse, which also backed Whannell’s The Invisible Man and plenty of other notable horror hits as of late. Many fans consider Whannell’s collaborations with the company — including Insidious — to be among the best Blumhouse horror movies yet.
How To Watch Previous Iterations Of The Wolf Man
The Wolf Man from 1941 is likely the first film most people picture when they think of werewolves, but it was actually Universal’s second attempt at a horror movie based on the subject following the less successful Werewolf of London in 1935.
Lon Chaney Jr. would reprise the role four more times (but never as a solo effort) in 1943’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, House of Frankenstein from the following year, 1945’s House of Dracula, and the more comical Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. Director Joe Johnston’s 2010 remake of the film (which shortens the title by making “wolfman” one word) was set in the late 19th Century and starred Academy Award winner Benicio del Toro as Lawrence Talbot.
Things are going to get hairy once Wolf Man finally emerges.
