Written by Robert Eggers tackles werewolves in his next horror movie, Werwulf, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. However, he is reinventing the classic horror themes surrounding the topic, stripping the werewolf story back to something raw and unfamiliar. During his interview with Esquire, he explained why setting his medieval folk-horror story in the distant past gave him such creative freedom.
When asked about the pieces of mythology that he chose to add or leave in the movie, he hinted that he was definitely hitting the reset button on some of these influences and mythologies. He shared, “Backpedaling away from influences and mythologies that do and don’t have to do with the film, the cool thing about going back into the past is that you can kind of hit a reset button.”
He further made it clear that the audience doesn’t need to arrive in theaters knowing the lore or rules relating to werewolves. He shared, “So you don’t need to have seen Lon Chaney Jr.’s The Wolf Man or An American Werewolf in London to get what’s going on here.”
Werwulf (2026)DetailsDirected byRobert EggersWritten byRobert Eggers, SjónCastAaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Jan Bijvoet, Ritchi Edwards, and Bodhi Rae BreathnachDistributed byFocus FeaturesRelease DateDecember 25, 2026
Robert Eggers’ unique take on the genre is enough for us to get excited about the new movie, which is set in 13th-century England. In the movie, a mysterious creature from local folklore becomes a real nightmare for the villagers. Taylor-Johnson leads the cast as the titular Werwulf.
Which Two Rules Are Robert Eggers Breaking in Werwulf?
So which rules are getting tossed aside? Robert Eggers mentioned two particular ones during an interview with Esquire. He shared, “So, all the clichés of being bitten by a werewolf and silver bullets and a lot of the stuff that has become almost campy doesn’t exist in the mythology of this movie.”
So, two of the most familiar werewolf rules won’t apply in Werwulf. A bite from a werewolf won’t turn you into one, and silver bullets don’t work on werewolves in this movie. Interestingly, both ideas are baked into some of Hollywood’s best-loved werewolf films.
In An American Werewolf in London, the classic werewolf movie Eggers mentioned, a young traveler named David is attacked by a creature on the English moors. He survives the bite, only to transform into a werewolf himself under the next full moon. It is one of the most iconic examples of the ‘bitten and cursed’ rule.
As for silver bringing down a werewolf, no movie showed it better than Underworld. In the movie, the vampire soldiers hunting their werewolf enemies, the Lycans, load their guns with silver bullets. By dropping both ideas, Eggers is signaling that his werewolf follows entirely different rules.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson Put Himself Through Hell for the Role
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Werwulf | Credits: Focus Features
Aaron Taylor-Johnson reunites with Robert Eggers after Nosferatu in this movie. The director describes his character in simple but heavy terms, sharing, “He’s a farmer. He’s a man who is cursed.” His character is trying to “find salvation through love.”
Eggers doesn’t sugarcoat the world the actor had to live in. He called it “a really brutal, unforgiving, merciless, grotesque world,” adding that “it’s mud and blood and dung and rain and pain and suffering.” He further shared that the actor had to go through extreme physical transformation and emotional intensity.
To make the beast believable, the team worked with wolf-dog hybrids. However, Eggers shared that the Kraven actor spent time with a real wolf, learning “a lot about the wolf’s behavior.” Eggers also described the grueling physical toll on the actor.
He shared, “He spent I-don’t-know-how-much time naked in the rain and snow, covered in blood, and doing this intense physical bodywork. It was months of training in prep and throughout production to get it all perfect.” There is a payoff, as he called it Taylor-Johnson’s “best performance.”
What do you think of Robert Eggers’ decision to do away with classic rules of werewolf movies? Let us know in the comments below!
Werwulf arrives in theaters on December 25, 2026.
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