Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Monstrous Transformation in Chilling ‘Werwulf’ Trailer

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is losing his humanity one terrifying transformation at a time in the latest trailer for Robert Eggers’ medieval horror film Werwulf.

Focus Features has unveiled a new look at Werwulf, giving horror fans their first extended glimpse at Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a cursed medieval farmer whose life spirals into supernatural terror. Directed by Robert Eggers, the filmmaker behind The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman and Nosferatu, the film is scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 25, 2026.

The trailer promises a bleak, atmospheric werewolf story that seems to abandon many familiar rules of the genre.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson Becomes the Monster

Taylor-Johnson plays an unnamed medieval farmer living in England around 1305. According to the official production synopsis, the character is cursed to transform into a murderous werewolf with each full moon as he tries to protect his family and save his soul.

The Werwulf trailer keeps much of the transformation deliberately hidden, but its final moments offer a disturbing tease. Taylor-Johnson’s character appears shaken and looks toward the sky as the curse closes in.

Lily-Rose Depp plays his wife, who desperately searches for a way to protect her husband.

“My husband… he is a good man,” she says in the trailer. “Please, make him safe from his cursedness.”

That plea sets up the film’s central conflict: whether love and family can save a man who is gradually becoming something terrifying.

Willem Dafoe Hunts the Werewolf

Willem Dafoe plays a hunter charged with dealing with the wolf threat spreading across the countryside.

“Every wolf shall die!” Dafoe’s character declares in the trailer, suggesting that Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character may soon find himself being hunted by the very people tasked with protecting the medieval community.

Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp previously worked together on Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, making Werwulf another collaboration between the director and three members of that film’s cast.

Nosferatu became a major theatrical success after its Christmas Day 2024 release, earning about $180 million worldwide and receiving four Oscar nominations.

Robert Eggers Is Rewriting the Werewolf Rulebook

One of the most intriguing aspects of Werwulf is its historical approach to the werewolf myth.

Eggers has explained that setting the movie in medieval England allowed him to move away from modern werewolf conventions. The film does not rely on familiar ideas such as being bitten to become a werewolf or using silver bullets to kill one. Instead, Eggers draws inspiration from the historical presence of wolves in medieval England and efforts to eliminate them.

The movie is set around 1300, before wolves disappeared from England, allowing the filmmaker to build its supernatural mythology around the period’s environment and beliefs.

The production is also expected to feature historically appropriate language and accents, continuing Eggers’ trademark commitment to period authenticity.

The ‘Nosferatu’ Team Returns

Eggers co-wrote Werwulf with Icelandic writer Sjón, continuing their collaboration after The Northman. Eggers, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Garrett Bird produced the film, with Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus and Bernard Bellew among the executive producers.

The cast also includes Ralph Ineson and Bodhi Rae Breathnach.

With its medieval setting, cursed protagonist and increasingly desperate battle between man and monster, Werwulf looks set to give the werewolf genre a distinctly Robert Eggers makeover.

And this Christmas, the biggest monster on screen may be hiding behind Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s face.