Nicholas Hoult to Star in Universal’s New Monster Film Renfield

According to Deadline, Mad Max: Fury Road star Nicholas Hoult has officially signed on for the leading role in one of Universal Pictures’ upcoming monster movies titled Renfield, based on a character created by Bram Stoker in his classic horror novel Dracula. The film will be directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War).

Hoult is no stranger to the comedy-horror genre as he previously starred in 2013’s zombie movie Warm Bodies. His other notable film credits include the X-Men films, Jack the Giant Slayer, Young Ones, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Favourite, True History of the Kelly Gang, and most recently Those Who Wish Me Dead. He will next be seen in the upcoming second season of Hulu’s comedy-drama series The Great, and in Searchlight Pictures’ dark comedy film The Menu.

RELATED: Robert Kirkman: Universal’s Renfield is an ‘Extremely Violent Comedy’

In the original 1897 Dracula novel, R.M. Renfield was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions but is actually a servant of Dracula. The role was originated memorably in the 1931 movie by Dwight Frye, followed by Tom Waits in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula, then Peter MacNicol in the Mel Brooks parody Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and by Samuel Barnett on the TV series Penny Dreadful.

The film will be directed by Chris McKay from a story based on an original pitch from The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman and was written by Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty). The film will be produced by Skybound Entertainment’s Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst.

RELATED: Universal & Chloé Zhao Teaming for Sci-Fi Western Dracula Reimagining

The Renfield film is part of Universal’s growing list of upcoming monster projects, including Elizabeth Banks’ Invisible Woman, Matt Stawki’s Monster Mash, Karyn Kusama’s Dracula, the Ryan Gosling-led Wolfman film, David Keopp’s long-gestated The Bride of Frankenstein reboot, Josh Cooley’s Little Monsters film, Blumhouse’s The Thing adaptation, the James Wan-produced Van Helsing movie, and an untitled monster thriller from Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

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