Robert Eggers Reteams with Focus Features for 13th Century Werewolf Thriller ‘Werwulf’ (Exclusive)

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Eggers is coming off of ‘Nosferatu’ for the studio.

Robert Eggers

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After tackling vampires with Nosferatu, filmmaker Robert Eggers is taking on another horror creature genre in his own inimitable style.

Eggers has co-written Werwulf, a werewolf horror project that he will direct as his next feature.

Focus Features, Universal’s art house division which released and financed Nosferatu, is back in business with the filmmaker for Werwulf. The company has dated the thriller for a North America release on Christmas Day, 2026. The parties are hoping for more holiday greetings as Nosferatu was also released on Christmas Day and went on to become an improbable hit.

Eggers wrote Werwulf with Sjón, who co-wrote heady Viking saga The Northman with the filmmaker. While details are scarce, sources say the story is set in 13th century England. The script also features dialogue that was true to the time period and has translations and annotations for those uninitiated in Old English.

Initially, Eggers was planning on shooting the feature in black and white, but that is no longer the case.

Suffice to say that considering the setting and the dialect, Eggers is promising another deep dive into a muddy, costumed and violent time period consistent with his oeuvre, which has earned him a loyal film following.

Both Eggers and Sjón will produce alongside Focus Features. Chris and Eleanor Columbus, who worked with Eggers on Nosferatu, will executive produce.

Focus, run by Peter Kujawski, has released and worked with Eggers on all his films, including Northman and his earlier movies, The Witch and The Lighthouse. Focus handled international distribution through Universal International for The Lighthouse.

Nosferatu was Eggers’ remake of the 1922 Dracula-like thriller by the same name. It starred Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult as a couple besieged by Count Orlok, played by Bill Skarsgard. It also featured Willem Dafoe (who has appeared in all but one of Eggers’ films) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson and was set in a German port in the 1830s.

The movie, heavy on mood, style, costumes and mannered dialogue, opened Christmas Day and sunk its teeth into a bloody good $40 million five-day opening, double industry expectations. The movie has sucked up more than $156 million worldwide and become Eggers’ highest-grossing movie to date. The film will hit digital and store shelves Feb. 18.

Eggers is repped by WME and Frankfurt Kurnit.

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