<i>Frankenstein</i>: What We Know So Far About Guillermo del Toro’s Adaptation

It’s alive! Frankenstein is officially getting the Guillermo del Toro treatment. The Oscar-winning writer-director behind The Shape of Water and Pinocchio is bringing the classic tale to Netflix. Here’s everything we know about the forthcoming film.

Frankenstein is based on the 1818 Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Here’s the film’s official logline, per Variery:

“A brilliant but egotistical scientist brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.”

According to Vanity Fair, del Toro’s version of Frankenstein will dive deeper into the characters’ family dynamics. “These are the parallels between Pinocchio and Frankenstein,” he said. “It’s the idea of a person going from a baby to a human being in a short span of time and being exposed to everything—cold, warmth, violence, love, loss. And then going to his creator to say, ‘Why? Why did you put me here? Why didn’t you give me the answers? What do I have to learn in my suffering?’”

Oscar Isaac will play the scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and Jacob Elordi will play Frankenstein’s creature.

Andrew Garfield was originally cast as Frankenstein’s creature, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. “Andrew Garfield stepping out and Jacob coming in... I mean, it was like Jacob is the most perfect actor for the creature,” del Toro told Vanity Fair. “And we have a supernaturally good connection. It’s like, very few words. Very few things I have to say, and he does it.”

“Because I came in so late, everything happened on top of each other at the same time,” Elordi added. “I was shooting as I was seeing, as I was understanding.”

The cast is rounded out by Mia Goth as Elizabeth, the fiancée of Dr. Frankenstein’s younger brother; Christoph Waltz as Harlander, an arms dealer; and David Bradley, a blind old man. Felix Kammerer, Lars Mikkelsen, and Christian Convery will also star.

Elordi shared that he went back and watched all of the previous Frankenstein movies, which date back to 1931.

“I devoured all of his monsters,” Elordi said of the late actor Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the creature. “At first I thought, ‘I’ll stay away from this. I want to do my own thing.’ And then I asked Guillermo, ‘Should I watch the other Frankensteins?’ And he goes, ‘What the fuck do you mean?’ I was like, ‘Well, I don’t want it to be influenced.’ He says, ‘My friend, it’s a movie, it can’t fucking hurt you.’ I went home, and I just binged them.”

Frankenstein will be released in November on Netflix. An exact date has yet to be announced.

On May 31, Netflix released the official teaser.

And on July 28, Vanity Fair unveiled images from the film, which include a first look at Elordi as Frankenstein’s monster.

This story will be updated.