Willem Dafoe eyes reunion with Robert Eggers for Werwulf

Willem Dafoe is in negotiations to reunite with his Nosferatu director Robert Eggers for the filmmaker’s 13th century horror flick Werwulf.

Willem Dafoe is in talks to star in director Robert Eggers’ Werwulf.

The 69-year-old actor – who previously worked with the filmmaker, 42, on The Lighthouse, The Northman and Nosferatu – is in negotiations to appear in Eggers’ upcoming horror flick, Deadline has said.

The Spider-Man star could be joining Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily Rose-Depp, who are also in talks to lead Werwulf.

Werwulf is being penned by Eggers’ The Northman co-writer Sjón, and is slated to hit cinemas on Christmas Day 2026 in the US.

The director and scribe are also due to produce with Focus Features alongside Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, who will be producing under Working Title.

Meanwhile, Maiden Voyage’s Chris and Eleanor Columbus will serve as executive producers.

While plot details are unknown, Werwulf is expected to be a 13th-century werewolf horror flick set in England.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the dialogue will be “true to the time period,” with translations and annotations provided to help audiences understand the Old English.

Eggers has reportedly abandoned an earlier plan to shoot the film in black and white.

As well as Werwulf, Eggers is also said to be in talks to work with Dafoe on a new cinematic retelling of A Christmas Carol for Warner Bros.

The director’s last release was 2024’s Nosferatu, which starred Bill Skarsgård, Dafoe, Rose-Depp, Nicholas Hoult, and Emma Corrin, and followed a young woman haunted by the obsessive vampire Count Orlok.

Eggers recently spoke about the gothic influences behind his take on Nosferatu, citing Jack Clayton’s 1961 film The Innocents, based on Henry James’s novella The Turn of the Screw.

He said on Alamo Drafthouse’s Guest Selects YouTube series: “I think it is one of the best – perhaps the best – gothic ghost movie ever made.

“I watch it a couple times a year probably for inspiration. Freddy Francis was the cinematographer, who directed many Hammer horror films, but his finest collaborations are with Jack Clayton.

“And what he does with the camera was very inspiring to what my cinematographer and I were up to with Nosferatu.”

Eggers added that another key influence for Nosferatu was Thorold Dickinson’s 1949 film The Queen of Spades.

The director said he aimed to recreate its “fluidity and precision of the camera work” and was also inspired by its practical snowfall effects, achieved using potato powder instead of CGI.

He said: “And the atmosphere of the film is also incredibly effective. The snowy Russian streets is a sort of look and vibe we tried to create later in [Nosferatu], particularly the potato snowflake snowfall is very beautiful and we use the same kind of practical snow.”

Eggers also credited Ingmar Bergman’s 1972 drama Cries and Whispers as a major influence for Nosferatu, citing its “ghostly atmosphere” and powerful performances.

He said: “Cries and Whispers by Ingmar Bergman is perhaps my favourite Bergman film.

“It’s also one of the best horror films ever made even though it certainly doesn’t try to be one, and wouldn’t be classified as one.”