Werewolf by Night is an American television special directed by Michael Giacchino and written by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character Werewolf by Night. It is the first Special Presentation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and television series of the franchise. The special was produced by Marvel Studios and follows a secret group of monster hunters as they compete for a powerful relic while going up against a dangerous monster.
Gael García Bernal stars in the special as Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night, along with Laura Donnelly and Harriet Sansom Harris. Development of the special had begun by August 2021, with Bernal cast that November. Giacchino was revealed to be directing in March 2022, ahead of the start of filming later that month at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, concluding in late April. The special was formally announced in September, when Giacchino revealed he was also composing.
Werewolf by Night was released on October 7, 2022, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. The special received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its use of practical effects, the black-and-white cinematography, performances (particularly Bernal and Donnelly), Giacchino's direction and score, and its story, with many noting its departure from previous MCU media. A fully colored version of the special, known as Werewolf by Night in Color, was released on October 20, 2023.
Plot Following the death of Ulysses Bloodstone, five experienced monster hunters, including Jack Russell, are summoned by Ulysses' widow, Verussa, to Bloodstone Manor, where they are instructed to participate in a competitive hunt to determine their new leader, who will wield the powerful Bloodstone. Ulysses' estranged daughter Elsa also arrives to compete for the Bloodstone, despite Verussa warning her against doing so.
The hunt begins in a large maze on the grounds of the manor, with a captured monster that has been implanted with the Bloodstone as the hunters' quarry. Following a brief encounter with Elsa, Russell finds the monster, "Ted", who is revealed to be a friend that Russell was searching for and actually intended to rescue, while Elsa fights and kills one of the other hunters. Russell leaves Ted to carry out his escape plan, and once again stumbles upon Elsa while she is hiding in a mausoleum. The two agree to work together to free Ted and obtain the Bloodstone for Elsa, who has become disillusioned with her father's monster hunting legacy. Ted kills another of the hunters and Russell destroys the outer wall of the maze so they can escape. Ted flees into the forest after Elsa removes the Bloodstone from him. However, the Bloodstone reacts violently to Russell's touch, indicating that he is also a monster, as Verussa and the remaining hunters arrive.
Verussa captures Russell and Elsa, places them in a cage, and uses the Bloodstone to trigger Russell's transformation into his werewolf form. Instead of killing Elsa as Verussa intended, the werewolf escapes the cage and slaughters Verussa's guards, but Verussa subdues him using the Bloodstone. Elsa also escapes, kills the two remaining hunters, and stops Verussa from killing the werewolf. As she attempts to approach him, the werewolf attacks Elsa, but spares her upon recognizing her and leaves the manor. A furious Verussa tries to shoot Elsa, but is incinerated by Ted, who then leaves to find Russell while Elsa takes possession of the manor and the Bloodstone. The next day, Russell awakens in the forest in his human form with Ted watching over him, and is pleased to learn that Elsa is safe.
Cast Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night:A monster hunter who has been afflicted with a curse that turns him into a werewolf. Bernal was intrigued by "the idea of the whole tapestry of a life" for Russell and what turning into a werewolf meant for him. To prepare for the role, Bernal read about werewolf mythology and half-human creatures from various cultures around the world, as well as reading comics featuring the character and watching older horror films. It initially took Bernal four hours to get into the werewolf costume and make-up, with the timing becoming "quite fast" by the end of filming. For the werewolf's make-up, Giacchino called it "incredibly important" that Russell, who Giacchino felt had lived for a long time and has outlived his family, had some connection to his history and family and a way to be reminded "of who he was and where he came from, and what was important". Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone:Ulysses Bloodstone's estranged daughter who dislikes her family's tradition of hunting monsters. Donnelly was drawn to the character's fighting capability and being able to do the stunt work associated with her action scenes. Director Michael Giacchino did not want the MCU version of the character to be hyper-sexualized like the comics version is, nor to have her wield guns. He continued, "I wanted her to be badass, of course, but I wanted her to be smart, I wanted her to be vulnerable, I just wanted her to be a real person", which he believed Donnelly embodied "in spades". Harriet Sansom Harris as Verussa Bloodstone:Ulysses's widow and Elsa's stepmother who leads the secret group of monster hunters with almost fanatical devotion and openly despises Elsa. Harris said Verussa was "very interested in control" and with Ulysses's death, is able to enter into a more prominent and powerful role.
Also appearing as the additional monster hunters are Kirk R. Thatcher as Jovan, Eugenie Bondurant as Azarel, Leonardo Nam as Liorn, and Daniel J. Watts as Barasso. Al Hamacher appears as Billy Swan, the Bloodstones' servant; Carey Jones provides the motion-capture of the swamp creature Ted / Man-Thing, with the special's editor Jeffrey Ford providing additional vocalizations; David Silverman appears as the flaming tuba player; Rick Wasserman narrates the special's opening sequence; and Richard Dixon voices Ulysses Bloodstone, Elsa's deceased monster-hunting father who originally wielded the Bloodstone and has become a talking corpse. Erik Beck was a puppeteer on the special.
Production Development The Marvel Comics character Werewolf by Night was planned for a feature film by May 2001, to be licensed from Marvel Studios and distributed by Dimension Films, with a story developed by Marvel Studios' Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, and Ari Arad. Hans Rodionoff was writing the script by June 2002 following several drafts by John Fasano, and Crystal Sky Pictures was set to co-produce the film. By February 2003, Robert Nelson Jacobs was writing the film, with Steven Paul and Patrick Ewald producing for Crystal Sky alongside Brad Weston and Nick Phillips for Dimension Films. In early March 2004, the project was advertised at the American Film Market for distribution, and by November, Crystal Sky was preparing to shoot the film in the United Kingdom over the following six months. The next November, Crystal Sky was planning to announce a director and cast shortly, and start filming in 2006, but this did not materialize. Marvel Studios had intended to use the character in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) project as early as February 2019, when Kevin Smith was informed that he could not feature Werewolf by Night in his then-planned Marvel Television animated Howard the Duck series due to Marvel Studios' own plans. Additionally, Howard the Duck along with M.O.D.O.K. (2021), Hit-Monkey (2021), and Tigra & Dazzler were planned to lead to a crossover event The Offenders, which would have been titled The Offenders: Giant Sized Man Thing, with the characters all meeting the swamp monster Man-Thing; the crossover was cancelled in part once again because of Marvel Studios' plans for the character.
By August 2021, Marvel Studios was developing a Halloween-themed television special for Disney+ that was reportedly centered on Werewolf by Night, though it was unclear if either the Jack Russell or Jake Gomez versions of the character would be featured. Michael Giacchino was hired to direct the one-hour special by March 2022, after previously scoring several MCU films, and having been rumored to be directing a Marvel Disney+ project since December 2021; Giacchino previously directed the 2018 short film Monster Challenge and the animated Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Ephraim and Dot" (2019). When Feige asked Giacchino which Marvel Comics property he wanted to work on, the producer was initially surprised to hear Giacchino's interest in Werewolf by Night, but was enthused after further discussing his ideas for it. The project was being referred to by some as Werewolf by Night, although The Hollywood Reporter noted that it could have a different title. Giacchino confirmed he was directing the special in June 2022, calling it an enjoyable but "challenging process".
That September, Marvel Studios officially revealed the special, titled Werewolf by Night. The special was described as Marvel Studios' "first-ever special presentation", and was marketed as a "Marvel Studios Special Presentation"; it is 53 minutes long. There was no mandate for how long the special should be, but the creatives all believed it should be around an hour. Giacchino approached the special like an episode of The Twilight Zone, in that it would present "one night in the life of [Jack Russell and Elsa Bloodstone], and see what happens". This allowed them to avoid needing to cover more of an origin story than needed, or setting up what would happen after the events of the special. Marvel Studios' Feige, Stephen Broussard, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Brad Winderbaum serve as executive producers.
Writing Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron co-wrote the screenplay, from a story by Quinn; Quinn previously wrote for the Marvel Studios Disney+ series Hawkeye (2021) and Cameron wrote for WandaVision (2021) and Moon Knight (2022). Quinn was asked to pitch for the special while she was working on set of Hawkeye in early 2021. She worked closely with Giacchino to craft the story of the special.
Giacchino said the special was inspired by horror films from the 1930s and 1940s, comparing it to the film Poltergeist (1982), which was a major influence for the special, in that it would have "the right level of scares". Other inspirations included The Twilight Zone, King Kong (1933), and The Wolf Man (1941), with Giacchino calling Werewolf by Night a "love letter" to these horror inspirations. Additionally, Giacchino tried to approach the special with a "moral center" beyond "just blood and guts". Disney+ stated that the special would "evoke a sense of dread and the macabre, with plenty of suspense and scares along the way". Feige called the special "fun", adding that it was also "a little darker [and] a little scarier" than the studio's other content. Elements of the Werewolf by Night character were altered from the comics to allow the story to work in a more modern setting; Quinn cited the Werewolf by Night issues "Carnival of Fear" and "The Danger Game", and Man-Thing, Bloodstone, and Monsters Unleashed titles as inspiration from the comics for the special. The special also features Man-Thing, at the suggestion of Feige. Man-Thing is only referred to as Ted in Werewolf by Night, with Giacchino wanting to call him by his actual name as "a way to humanize him". There were also considerations to refer to him as a "Giant-Size Man-Thing" (a reference to one of his comic book titles) but this and others "never felt quite right" and seemed "a little too cheeky".