‘Werwulf’ Director Robert Eggers Reveals Why He Chose to Direct ‘Romeo & Juliet’

Robert Eggers has built one of the most distinctive filmographies in modern horror by consistently pushing further into the past with each new project, from witch trials to Viking revenge sagas to gothic vampire lore. That commitment to atmospheric, meticulously researched period storytelling has made him one of the genre’s most reliable auteurs, even as his subject matter keeps getting stranger.

That pattern is about to shift in an unexpected direction. After spending years steeped in supernatural monsters, Eggers is turning his attention to one of literature’s most enduring tragedies for his next film, a move that surprised even longtime followers of his typically horror-centric career.

Eggers is set to direct and produce a new adaptation of William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for Focus Features, following a competitive bidding war that also included A24, Sony and Warner Bros. The project will mark Eggers’ first direct engagement with Shakespeare’s work, despite his 2022 film ‘The Northman’ already drawing loosely from the same Nordic legend that inspired ‘Hamlet.’

Robert Eggers explains why he chose to direct ‘ROMEO & JULIET’:

« After ‘Werwulf’ I was writing another horror movie and it got so dark again, and I was like.. I need a break. So I’ll do something about two teenagers killing themselves. » pic.twitter.com/WXkhlV1RP5

— Film Crave (@_filmcrave) September 26, 2026

The timing of the announcement lines up with Eggers wrapping work on ‘Werwulf,’ his upcoming 14th-century werewolf horror film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe and Lily-Rose Depp. By his own account, that project pushed him into particularly bleak creative territory, and moving toward a classic tragedy of teenage love offered something of a tonal reset after spending so long immersed in monstrous folklore.

That shift makes sense given how draining Eggers has described ‘Werwulf’s’ development process in past interviews, having previously called it the darkest material he’s written. Turning next to Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, even with all the doom baked into the original text, represents a genuine departure from the creature-focused horror that’s defined his output since ‘The Witch.’

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is set to become Eggers’ next film following ‘Werwulf’s’ Christmas Day theatrical release, according to The Hollywood Reporter. True to form, the director isn’t planning a modernized take in the vein of Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation. Sources indicate the film will feature actors speaking in Elizabethan English, taken directly from Shakespeare’s original text.

The deal keeps Eggers firmly within the Focus Features family, a studio relationship that’s spanned his entire career. Focus has released or distributed every one of his films in some capacity, including ‘The Northman,’ ‘Nosferatu’ and the upcoming ‘Werwulf,’ while handling international distribution for his earlier work on ‘The Witch’ and ‘The Lighthouse.’

That loyalty paid off handsomely for both sides with ‘Nosferatu,’ which became Eggers’ highest-grossing film to date at nearly $182 million worldwide and earned four Oscar nominations in craft categories. Given that box office and critical success, it’s little surprise Focus fought hard to keep Eggers in-house for his take on Shakespeare’s most famous romance.

Beyond ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ Eggers has several other projects reportedly still in development, including a previously announced ‘Labyrinth’ sequel for TriStar Pictures and the Jim Henson Company. With Shakespeare now confirmed as his next stop, though, those other projects will likely wait their turn behind one of literature’s most adapted stories getting the unmistakably Eggers treatment.

Given his track record of transforming familiar material into something unsettling and visually striking, Eggers’ ‘Romeo and Juliet’ could end up looking nothing like the countless adaptations that came before it.

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