The wish you never knew you made came true: Nicolas Cage is Dracula in Universal Pictures’ monster movie Renfield. The cult favourite actor joins Nicholas Hoult – who stars as the titular character, the vampire count’s infamous henchman and former inmate – in the feature directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The Lego Batman Movie), with Rick and Morty’s Ryan Ridley penning the script based on a story from The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman. The movie was originally set to be directed by Dexter Fletcher.

The character of Renfield began as an asylum patient obsessed with drinking blood, believing that by consuming animals’ blood he was also absorbing their life force, so that he might find immortality. Dracula offers him a deal: that if Renfield worships him, he will grant him everlasting life. It’s unclear how closely Renfield will follow the dynamics of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, as plot details are currently being kept dead quiet, but we do know that the project is being described as a modern-day adventure story that is comedic in tone.

This marks Cage’s big return to blockbusters movies, having strayed from the mainstream after 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and starring in a number of excellent indie films such as Color Out Of Space, Mandy, and Pig. This won’t be Cage’s first time sporting some fangs, having previously starred in the 1988 horror-comedy Vampire’s Kiss. 

Renfield is part of Universal’s ongoing attempt to revive its cult ‘Universal Monsters’ franchise from the 1930s-50s, with planned projects so far including  a Dracula film from Jennifer’s Body director Karyn Kusama, another Dracula take from Chloe Zhao, a Frankenstein adaptation from James Wan, one starring Ryan Gosling as the Wolfman, to name but a few.