A true—and sorely needed—Oscar Isaac renaissance is upon us, and all it took was one peek at Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Netflix collaboration, Frankenstein.
Look, I’ve known I would be a freak about 2025’s Frankenstein from the start, as Guillermo del Toro + Oscar Isaac = my personal Super Bowl Sunday. The film has been decades in the making, with del Toro first mentioning the idea of directing a “Miltonian tragedy” take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 2007. Now, his vision will finally come to fruition thanks to the folks at Netflix, and from the look of it, we’re in for a—literally—dead sexy take on the classic creature flick.
Oscar Isaac is so back, and it’s about damn time
Who better to portray Frankenstein’s title character than one of Hollywood’s most underutilized actors, Oscar Isaac? The Star Wars alum will play the mad scientist, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, alongside certifiable scream queen Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, and Ralph Ineson. As for The Monster himself, Jacob Elordi will be taking on the role. There was an early version of the script that saw Andrew Garfield playing Frankenstein’s Monster, and all I can say is … we were robbed. At least Elordi is 6’5 and can capture the creature’s lanky and imposing vibe, I guess?
After wrapping production in September, audiences got a first look at Frankenstein during Netflix’s big 2025 preview showcase in the last week of January, where attendees got to watch the iconic scene where Dr. Frankenstein’s experiment comes to life. Based on the description of the footage, I’m willing to bet that TikTok is about to be flooded with the same kind of Nosferatu-era Count Orlok thirst traps, this time with Elordi’s very tall and very brooding Monster, probably set to Lana Del Rey’s “Ride.”
So when I saw that Netflix had released a still of Isaac’s Frankenstein character earlier this week, the first thing that came to mind—well, second if you consider “His waist looks SO snatched!” to be a real, fleshed-out thought—was this: Where has he been hiding? ‘Cause I, for one, will be enjoying my Oscar Isaac/Dr. Frankenstein edits, thank you very much.
Where in the world is Oscar Isaac?
Isaac has been strangely absent from the film/TV landscape in recent years, as his last major performance was his voiceover role as Miguel O’Hara in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in 2023. He did make a quick cameo as Moon Knight, his Marvel Cinematic Universe character (the good Marvel character—sorry not sorry, X-Men: Apocalypse), for an episode of Marvel’s What If…? in December, but really, he hasn’t shown his face much since his Scenes from a Marriage/Dune: Part One era, which should probably be considered a war crime.
A Hollywood without Oscar Isaac is a dark and desolate place. I mean, a quick look at his resumé shows that outside of his franchise roles in Star Wars, the MCU, and Dune, Isaac has a keen eye for picking jobs. His portrayal of Paul Gauguin in Julian Schnabel’s understated At Eternity’s Gate showcases his range as a drama actor while his turn as an eccentric, Bob Dylan-esque folk singer in 2013’s Inside Llewyn Davis continues to be one of my favorite Coen brothers performances of all time. Isaac is such an energetic, versatile actor, and I really hope Frankenstein encourages casting agents to put him in as many projects as humanly possible.
Despite his nearly 30-year career in the industry, I can’t help but feel like Hollywood hasn’t taken Isaac all that seriously since his Star Wars sequel trilogy days, and that’s a real shame. Still, he did admit to wanting to take a break from acting following the mixed responses to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, so I’m willing to bet that his (albeit, delayed) sabbatical was taken entirely by choice. In any case, it seems like Isaac is back for the foreseeable future—a future that I embrace wholeheartedly.
Published: Feb 1, 2025 5:09 PM UTC