We’ve known for some time that Universal were to use The Mummy to relaunch a new shared monster movie-verse, but now the studio has moved to give this new realm an official title as well as confirming a couple of casting choices.

To begin with next month’s The Mummy, this shared world will now be known as the Dark Universe. As for the casting, following on from previous reports and rumours, Universal has confirmed that Johnny Depp will indeed be headlining The Invisible Man and that Javier Bardem will be playing Frankenstein’s iconic monster.

In further news, Beauty and the Beast’s Bill Condon has been brought in to direct Bride of Frankenstein – a film that Universal previously wanted Angelina Jolie to both star in and direct. There’s no word at this stage on whether Jolie is still in talks to headline Bride, though, and there’s similarly no news on whether the speculation of Dwayne Johnson starring in The Wolfman is indeed true. For Bride of Frankenstein, that’s now been booked in for a February 14th, 2019 release.

As mentioned, this whole shared world begins with The Mummy, which stars Sofia Boutella as the titular monster, Tom Cruise as soldier of fortune Nick Morton, and Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll.

Explaining how these films will be tied, a new slice of blurb reads:

At its organizing principle, Dark Universe films are connected by a mysterious multi-national organization known as Prodigium. Led by the enigmatic and brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll, Prodigium’s mission is to track, study and – when necessary – destroy evil embodied in the form of monsters in our world. Working outside the aegis of any government, and with practices concealed by millennia of secrecy, Prodigium protects the public from knowledge of the evil that exists just beyond the thin membrane of civilized society… and will go to any length to contain it.

The Mummy is released worldwide on June 9th.