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The Cast and Characters of Wolf Man, Explained
Meet the key players in Leigh Whannell's bold reimagining of the werewolf genre.
In writer-director Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man reimagining (in theaters January 17; click here for tickets), a young father begins to transform into a lupine abomination while barricaded inside a remote farmhouse. His wife and daughter can do nothing but watch as the terrible affliction gradually eats away at his body and sense of self. Similar to Whannell's 2020 update on The Invisible Man, this project explores deep human themes of trauma, loss, pain, identity, and regret through the lens of a classic Universal Monster.
"I started thinking about seeing the Wolf Man changing from the Wolf Man’s perspective,” Whannell, who is also an executive producer on the movie, says in the production notes. “A lot of the Wolf Man history has been about this curse, and that a full moon can bring it out in you. I wanted to do with this character what David Cronenberg did with The Fly. He drilled down to the essence of a previous film that could be considered quite comical. Same with John Carpenter’s The Thing. These movies take their monsters seriously and have no room for winking or poking fun."
But who's who in this bold new take on the classic monster story? Let's meet the key players in this Blumhouse-produced shaggy tale of terror.
The cast and characters of Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man
Christopher Abbott as Blake Lovell
As portrayed by Christopher Abbott, Blake Lovell grew up in the wilds of rural Oregon, cut off from the rest of society by his father and forced to watch his mother waste away from a degenerative disease (an eerie foreshadowing of the werewolf affliction to come). As a grown man, the character resides amid the hustle and bustle of San Francisco, raising an 8-year-old daughter and struggling to find common ground with his investigative journalist wife. That marital rift only grows wider once Blake is attacked by a mysterious predator and begins to lose control over his body and mind.
"You watch them start to try to reconnect, and as the events of the film happen, their connection is taken away,” Abbott explains. “Blake loses the ability to communicate. That’s the tragedy. Everyone can relate to having issues and not connecting well with a partner. What if that’s taken away from you? For example, with an actual illness.”
Where you've seen Abbott before: It Comes at Night, Poor Things, Kraven the Hunter
Julia Garner as Charlotte Lovell
A high-powered journalist working in San Francisco, Julia Garner's Charlotte is the main breadwinner of the family and grapples with anxiety over financial stability, which, in turn, manifests itself as a growing sense of resentment toward her husband. When Blake is attacked, Charlotte initially attempts to take care of her ailing spouse, but soon begins to wonder whether he's too far gone. As the monster begins to emerge, she's forced to make a difficult decision: keep looking after Blake or focus on getting herself and her daughter out alive.
“It’s about connection and grief,” Garner says. “When somebody’s in front of you and they’re slowly disappearing, it’s not a sudden death, but a slow process. Early on, Leigh discussed wanting to connect and then having that person not be there anymore. When we started prepping, I told him that I wanted it to feel that the audience was going through the seven stages of grief in one night. When Blake is going through the physical stages, Charlotte is going through the mental ones.”
Where you've seen Garner before: Ozark, Inventing Anna, The Assistant
Matilda Firth as Ginger Lovell
The apple of her father's eye, Matilda Firth's Ginger enjoys a close relationship with Blake, the likes he always dreamed of having with his own dad. While only 8-years-old, the youngest member of the Lovell family has inherited a pair of key traits from her parents — survivalist instincts and a sixth sense — both of which will help her survive one hell of a night and come to grips with the fact that a once-loving parent is becoming an inhuman creature.
“Matilda is fantastic,” Abbott says. “It’s odd for someone her age to be so seasoned. She’s so good at taking direction, and it feels as if she’s been in the game for a long time. That was so fun to watch. She’s a fantastic scene partner."
Where you've seen Firth before: Coma, Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office, Hullraisers
Sam Jaeger as Grady Lovell
A hardened war veteran, Sam Jaeger's Grady drilled survival skills into his resentful son, Blake, who craved a loving father while his mother wasted away from ALS. Grady, who could not cope with the slow death of the woman he planned to grow old with, ultimately placed Blake's ability to take care of himself over the boy's need for affection.
“Grady’s way of showing love to his son is giving him the tools to live on his own,” Jaeger notes. “He’s communicating to him that his mother’s dying. In Grady’s mind, it is: ‘I will die, and whether I love you or not, we’re both going to be gone. So, these are the tools you need to live and that is the most important thing I can give to you, because I can’t give you the love that your mother was able to give. I just don’t have the tools.’”
Where you've seen Jaeger before: The Handmaid's Tale, American Sniper, The Politician
Ben Prendergast (The Sojourn Audio Drama), Benedict Hardie (The Invisible Man), Beatriz Romilly (Shortland Street), Milo Cawthorne (Shortland Street), and newcomer Zac Chandler round out the cast, though character specifics have not been revealed for them just yet.
Wolf Man hits the big screen next Friday — January 17. Tickets are now on sale right here!
