Director Chris McKay is really ramping up the casting process for Universal's new take on the Dracula-adjacent character Renfield. With Nicholas Hoult already in the title role and Nic Cage just announced as the iconic fang club member, Awkwafina is joining the cast.
Casting the Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi scene-stealer certainly points to a comedic tone for this new film (though she has certainly put in some good dramatic work), which reportedly is set in the modern day as opposed to a period setting. In Bram Stoker's book, enfield was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions but actually is a servant of Dracula. No word yet on how that will be adapted here, but The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman came up with the concept and Ryan Ridley wrote the script.
The movie represents Universal's continued shift away from its plan for a connected monster movie universe and instead allowing filmmakers to create their own stories.
Renfield has no current release date, but we'd be shocked if it didn't arrive later next year or early in 2023.