Werewolf By Night is a spooky Marvel Studios special presentation that will be coming our way just in time for Halloween.
Marvel's very first holiday special will feel pretty different from the likes of past Disney Plus exclusives like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk, though. That's because its quite clearly taking an awful lot of inspiration from classic horror flicks and monster movies.
Werewolf By Night will see a secretive group of monster hunters who are thrown into a Battle Royale-style competition over a powerful relic...with a dangerous monster in their midst.
Here's what we know about the Marvel special so far.
Werewolf By Night release date
Werewolf By Night will be available to stream exclusively on Disney Plus on October 7. It's expected to be one hour long.
Werewolf By Night plot
Here's the official summary for Werewolf By Night:
"On a dark and somber night, a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader. In a strange and macabre memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster. Inspired by horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, the chilling special aims to evoke a sense of dread and the macabre, with plenty of suspense and scares along the way as we explore a new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe."
Who's in the Werewolf By Night cast?
Gael Garcia Bernal (Coco) stars as Jack Russell, a cursed character who can transform into the Werewolf By Night whilst retaining his own human intellect. This special will be the Werewolf By Night's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut.
Alongside Gael are Outlander's Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone and Harriet Sansom Harris (Desperate Housewives, Licorice Pizza) as Verusa, two of the monster hunters embroiled in the competition.
Eugenie Bondurant (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) also features as Linda, with Kirk Thatcher (Gremlins 2) playing Jovan and Al Hamacher (True Memoirs of an International Assassin) on board as Billy Swan.
It's also been widely reported that members of Loki's Time Variance Authority and the Marvel character Man-Thing are set to appear in the show, though we don't know who will be playing them just yet.
Is there a trailer for Werewolf By Night?
Yes! The trailer was revealed at this year's D23 Expo, and it gives us a taste of the terrifying thrills and spills that will be coming our way just in time for Halloween as the hunters are stalked by a creature of the night. Check it out below:
Who directed Werewolf By Night?
Celebrated film composer Michael Giacchino (Up, The Batman) is behind the camera for Werewolf By Night, though he's also provided the score.
The special has been co-written by Peter Cameron (Moon Knight) and Heather Quinn (Hawkeye).
Where does the Werewolf By Night fit into the Marvel Universe?
If you were wondering whether Marvel's monster characters will be sticking around for future superhero projects, you're in luck: executive producer Brian Gay has already confirmed that Werewolf By Night is just the beginning for Marvel's more monstrous side.
Whilst speaking to The Direct, Gay made it clear that some of the characters like Werewolf by Night and Man-Thing will be coming back in the future, we just don't know where (or when).
Gay said: "I think one of the very cool things about the special is it's just peeling back the corner of monsters in the MCU, right? So there's not just the monsters that are part of Werewolf by Night, but the ones that were up on the wall, there's some of that artwork as well".
"What all this lends to is the idea that for centuries there have been monsters within the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and they've been being tracked or hunted or kept at bay by these hunters.
"And I think, well, we don't know exactly where they'll pop up next, the idea is that, with this wide swath of different species and types, they're going to pop up again. You're going to see these guys in different ways, of course", he added.
Although it's in no way confirmed, some fans also believe that there's a possibility that the special could be in some way connected to Moon Knight or the upcoming Blade movie. This is because the titular lycanthrope and Moon Knight have been rivals in the comics, and vampire hunter Blade has sometimes been known to take on other types of creatures of the night from time to time. Whether that means we'll be seeing a cameo from either the Moon Knight himself, Oscar Isaac, or Blade star Mahershala Ali remains to be seen.
