Ryan Gosling Won’t Be Wearing Fur Again Anytime Soon as ‘Wolf Man’ Finds a New Lead

In, out, in, out, shake it all about. The Wolf Man remake feels like it has been a game of musical chairs when it comes to its director and lead star but with a release date set for next year, the players have been decided. We just hope they keep their butts in the seats!

It hasn’t been that long since the last film to tell the story of this famed horror character was released, with Benicio Del Toro in the lead role in 2010’s The Wolfman. It’s time for a new star to take the role, and though for the longest time we thought that would be Ryan Gosling, it now in fact appears to be Christopher Abbott. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of this change and announced that the film is now set to be directed by Leigh Whannell, who directed another classic monster remake for Universal and Blumhouse: the 2020 psychological horror thriller The Invisible Man.

Whannell was originally tapped to direct the new Wolf Man movie but moved aside in 2021, with director Derek Cianfrance stepping into the role. Cianfrance and Gosling have worked together in the past on Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, which is perhaps why when one left, the other followed. Gosling will still be credited as an executive producer on the film, but taking his place as the lead will be Abbott, who is currently on screens in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things.

Wolf Man could serve as Abbott’s entrance into mainstream films, having starred in several independent productions over the years that have seen him nominated for Indie Spirit and Golden Globes awards. Based on 1941’s The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr. in the eponymous role, the story follows a man who returns to his estranged family’s estate for the funeral of his brother. While trying to save a young woman from a wolf attack, the man is bitten and soon finds himself transforming into a wolf-like creature during the full moon.

With Whannell now back, Wolf Man will serve as his second monster movie after The Invisible Man and fourth directing collaboration with Blumhouse. The director had written the script for Wolf Man along with Corbett Tuck, Lauren Schuker Blum, and Rebecca Angelo.

The film is set to be released on October 25 next year, poised perfectly for Halloween.

(featured image: Warner Bros. / Rich Polk, Getty Images for IMDb)