Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Repeats A Genius Game Of Thrones Casting Move (& Changes The Book To Do It)

A standout Game of Thrones actor will play an important role in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. Del Toro, who has earned much acclaim for his work in the horror genre, has been waiting to make Frankenstein for 25 years. This means that the upcoming adaption, which will release on Netflix in November 2025, will likely be quite faithful.

To bring his version of Frankenstein to life, del Toro casted talented actors such as Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, and Jacob Elordi, who will portray the creature at the center of the story. The trailer for Frankenstein teases that the movie will explore themes such as ambition, isolation, and the nature of good and evil, which are also present in Mary Shelley’s massively influential novel.

Official images for Frankenstein have also been released, showing the characters in their roles. In addition to Isaac, Goth, and Elordi, these images also give us our first look at Charles Dance as Leopold Frankenstein, Victor’s father. While most of the movie will likely be faithful to the novel, Dance’s character in del Toro’s Frankenstein will make a major change to his book counterpart.

Charles Dance Will Play Victor Frankenstein’s Father In Del Toro’s Movie

And The Character Will Change To Match

Del Toro, Isaac, and Elordi revealed some interesting details about Frankenstein in an interview with Vanity Fair. Specifically, they discussed how the film will heavily focus on the relationships between fathers and sons. Because of this, Victor’s father’s personality will be much different in the movie than in the book, in which he goes by the name Alphonse Frankenstein.

In Shelley’s novel, Alphonse Frankenstein is portrayed as a loving and supportive father. Even though he struggles to connect with Victor on a deep level and doesn’t necessarily understand some of his interests, Alphonse always tries his best to be there for him. On the contrary, the movie version of Victor will be much more scarred by his relationship with his father.

In del Toro’s upcoming film, Dance’s Leopold Frankenstein will apparently be a much more domineering figure. Instead of him showing love and support, it seems like Leopold will be very hard on Victor in the movie. In Frankenstein, Victor’s upbringing and his strained relationship with his father will inform how he behaves towards his own creation.

This change means that del Toro’s movie will deal with a new theme: generational trauma. Because Victor was treated poorly by his father, he will mistreat and cast away his creation, making a monster in the process. The relationship between Victor and his father will be fascinating to see in Frankenstein, and Dance is an incredible choice to play Leopold.

Dance has starred in plenty of movies and shows, but he is perhaps best known for playing Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones. In the hit fantasy series, Tywin was a menacing father to Cersei, Jaime, and especially Tyrion. Throughout the show’s first four seasons, Tywin used his position of power to control and speak down to all of his children.

Twyin’s relationship with his children made for some of the most tense moments in Game of Thrones. Therefore, it will be great to see Dance play a domineering father once again in Frankenstein. Even though this is a significant change from the book, I am now even more excited for del Toro’s Frankenstein after learning more about Dance’s involvement.

Source: Vanity Fair