Focus has shared the first trailer of Werwulf.
Robert Eggers has directed the medieval horror starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp and Willem Dafoe.
Focus Features has backed all of Eggers' films.
Focus Features has dropped the first trailer for director Robert Eggers’ upcoming horror film Werwulf, which is slated to open in theaters on December 25. According to the official logline, "In 13th-century England, a mysterious creature stalks a foggy countryside as local folklore becomes a terrifying reality for the villagers." Eggers said in 2025 that Werwulf was “the darkest thing I’ve ever written by far". Werwulf stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a cursed farmer living a lycanthropic nightmare.
A Reunion
Werwulf reunites Eggers with several actors from his acclaimed 2024 gothic horror film Nosferatu. Taylor-Johnson returns after portraying Friedrich Harding in the vampire epic, while Lily-Rose Depp, who starred as Ellen Hutter, also hops on the new production. Veteran actors Willem Dafoe and Ralph Ineson, both frequent collaborators of Eggers, also feature in the cast. Dafoe has been a regular since Eggers' sophomore, The Lighthouse. The ensemble also entails Jack Morris, Jan Bijvoet, Ritchi Edwards and Bodhi Rae Breathnach. Filmmaker Chris Columbus and producer Eleanor Columbus serve as executive producers through their Maiden Voyage banner.
Details On Werwulf
In an interview with Esquire, Eggers said that the particular setting was chosen because of the end of the English wool trade around the year 1300. “[T]hat’s as late as it could be, because once there were no wolves in England, there was no more werewolf lore in England,” he said. “The werewolf lore there is born from people who were doing such horrific, indescribable acts that it was hard for other people to wrap their minds around it. They figured these people can’t be human. They must be inhuman. They must be werewolves.” He has also raved about the film being among Taylor-Johnson’s best performances, adding, “The stuff that he does physically in the transformation scenes are incredibly extreme.”
Eggers co-wrote and produced Werwulf alongside Icelandic poet and novelist Sjón, continuing a creative partnership that previously resulted in the 2022 Viking revenge drama The Northman, starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman and Anya Taylor-Joy. Werwulf also carries forth Eggers' long and rich partnership with Focus Features, right from his debut.
