Universal's attempt to build a film about Dracula-adjacent character Renfield has seen a few roadblocks along the way, including nabbing and then losing director Dexter Fletcher. But The Tomorrow War's Chris McKay has been aboard since April, and the movie has moved on apace, with Nicholas Hoult snagging the title role in what is still simply known as Renfield.
The script has some horror pedigree as The Walking Dead comics creator (and TV producer) Robert Kirkman pitched a new take on the character, which the studio snapped up. Rick And Morty writer Ryan Ridley handled the actual scripting chores and while there are few details to be found, it'll apparently be a present day story and not a period piece. Renfield has traditionally been portrayed as festering in an asylum following his time with the bloodsucker, so it'll be fascinating to see what the new take is.
Universal is continuing to build out its updated monster movies, having scrapped the cinematic universe concept for letting interesting filmmakers bring their own style to each film independently. The Invisible Man's Leigh Whannell is attached to a Ryan Gosling-led Wolfman, while James Wan is producing a Van Helsing movie that has Overlord's Julius Avery in the director's chair (at least at the moment). As for Hoult, he'll return for season 2 of The Great and is about to work on horror comedy The Menu.