The first trailer for Robert Eggers’ Werwulf has arrived, offering a haunting look at Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s transformation in the director’s latest gothic horror film. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows a community as a mysterious creature begins stalking the fog-covered countryside. Local folklore soon becomes terrifyingly real for the villagers, with Taylor-Johnson’s character at the centre of the fear.
Werwulf will arrive in cinemas on Christmas Day 2026 through Focus Features, continuing Eggers’ tradition of taking audiences into carefully constructed historical worlds full of superstition and horror.
The trailer introduces a bleak countryside filled with frightened villagers, religious imagery and warnings about something dangerous moving beyond the safety of their homes. Taylor-Johnson appears as a farmer whose body undergoes a violent transformation, although the footage keeps the creature itself largely hidden.
Rather than revealing everything immediately, the teaser builds its horror through brief flashes and unsettling sound. The washed-out cinematography gives the medieval landscape a cold, unnatural quality, with heavy shadows and muted tones making the countryside feel hostile even before the full threat emerges.
You can watch the first Werwulf trailer below.
Taylor-Johnson is joined by Willem Dafoe and Lily-Rose Depp, reuniting with Eggers after appearing in Nosferatu. Ralph Ineson, who previously worked with the director on The Witch and The Northman, also stars alongside Jack Morris, Jan Bijvoet, Ritchi Edwards and Bodhi Rae Breathnach.
Eggers directs from a screenplay written with Sjón, his co-writer on The Northman. The pair also serve as producers alongside Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Garrett Bird, with Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus executive producing through Maiden Voyage. The filmmaker has become known for combining historical detail with folklore and psychological horror. His previous films include The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman and Nosferatu.
Werwulf also continues Eggers’ relationship with Focus Features, which released Nosferatu on Christmas Day in 2024. That film paired Taylor-Johnson and Depp in supporting roles, while Dafoe appeared as Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz. Their return gives the new project a familiar connection to Eggers’ previous horror story, even as the director moves from vampires to werewolf folklore.
Focus Features describes Werwulf as a harrowing tale of “devotion, damnation and the devil within”, with the trailer presenting the transformation as something physical and frightening but also closely tied to the beliefs of the people surrounding it.
For CultureCues, a new Robert Eggers film was always going to have our attention, and the first Werwulf trailer looks every bit as eerie as we hoped. The medieval setting feels suitably bleak, while keeping the creature mostly hidden makes Taylor-Johnson’s transformation even more unsettling. Eggers clearly has another atmospheric horror story waiting for us, and Christmas Day suddenly looks considerably darker.
Werwulf will be released in cinemas on 25 December 2026.
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