The Handmaid Tale’s Elisabeth Moss officially joined the cast of Universal’s upcoming monster movie The Invisible Man, according to Entertainment Weekly. The news comes after Variety reported back in March that there have been talks between Moss and the studio about the film.
The movie, which is set to be shoot in Australia, will be directed and written by Leigh Whannell. Johnny Depp, who was originally nabbed to play the lead role, isn’t expected to take part in the project.
The Invisible Man, based on the classic monster character of the same name, was announced back in 2016 with Depp in the lead role. The movie was supposed to be part of The Dark Universe – a series of connected movies based on Universal Classic Monsters. However, after the Tom Cruise-starred The Mummy, which served as the first installment in the series, crashed and burned at the box office and was received poorly by the critic, Universal decided to rethink their approach.
The studio now moved away from the idea of “shared universe” and will focus on individual movies that will be smaller-scaled than it was originally envisioned.
“Throughout cinematic history, Universal’s classic monsters have been reinvented through the prism of each new filmmaker that brings these characters to life,” said Peter Cramer, Universal’s President of Production, in one of the earlier statement. “We are excited to take a more managed approach for their return to the screen, shepherded by creators who have stories they are passionate to tell with them.”
