let's hear it for the boy

Dracula’s Famed Familiar Renfield Is Getting His Own Movie, and Honestly He’s Earned It

Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

R.M. Renfield had the thankless job of being Dracula’s errand boy who everyone wrote off as crazy, but now he is going to be a star. Variety reports that Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher will helm a new movie for Universal called Renfield that will center on the Count’s familiar, and the script is being handled by Rick and Morty writer Ryan Ridley. As Variety says, “Universal had originally planned on creating an interconnected universe with its vast catalog of monster IP. However, the studio reassessed, and decided to move forward with filmmaker-driven projects based on the monsters’ legacies, focusing on what made the characters endure over time. Instead of prescribing a mandate that the films be part of a larger scheme, Universal loosened those restrictions and open-sourced to filmmakers to create their own unique stories.” In other words, RIP Dark Universe! Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man is part of this pared-down Universal Monsters drive, and while plot specifics for Fletcher’s Renfield are not being shared yet, it’s said to take place in the present day. Let your light shine, Renfield!

Dracula’s Famed Familiar Renfield Is Getting His Own Movie