Jude Law Officially Joins New A24 Thriller From Horror Maestro

Ari Aster is a director with serious horror chops. His short film, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), marked the start of his prominence in the genre, which was later elevated by his works Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019), with the latter earning several awards, including 5 wins at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards.

Of course, no one can stay in one genre for too long. Aster soon pivoted to other cinematic genres, starting with the surrealist comedy-drama Beau Is Afraid (2023), which starred Joaquin Phoenix as a mild-mannered but anxiety-driven Beau Wasserman forced to face his greatest fears to reach his mother’s house.

Unfortunately for Aster, while Beau Is Afraid was a critical success, it didn’t rake in the big numbers, and both it and his neo-Western thriller Eddington (2025) were box-office bombs. Hopefully, he’ll have more luck with his upcoming thriller Scapegoat, which is already shaping up to have quite the star-studded cast.

Deadline reports that Jude Law (The Talented Mr Ripley) is in talks to co-star opposite Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) for Aster’s A24-distributed thriller. But he isn’t the only major name to have signed on, as Frankenstein’s Jacob Elordi has also joined the project. Aster will direct and write the movie, and will also produce it with Lars Knudsen under their Square Peg banner. As for what to expect from Scapegoat’s plot, there’s not much to write about, with speculation ranging from a sci-fi romance to a traditional drama.

And there’s no indication as to what characters Law, Johansson and Elordi will be playing, either, so until there’s an update, everything is still in the dark. However, production for Scapegoat is expected to start soon to accommodate Johansson’s busy schedule, as she has just finished her work on Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist reboot and is set to start shooting the next part in Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman movies, The Batman: Part II.

Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell

Meanwhile, Law has also had a hectic year himself. From Dec. 2, 2024, until Jan. 14, 2025, the actor played a part in Disney+ Star Wars: Skeleton Crew as pirate captain Jod Na Nawood, a Force user trained in the Jedi arts, and in Netflix’s limited crime thriller series Black Rabbit. The series was a big success for Law and Netflix, with MovieWeb’s own Rita Dorsch saying that Black Rabbit had “many hallmarks of prestige TV”. He also has a few more projects lined up, including Apple TV’s limited series Wild Things and the romantic comedy movie Paris Romantic, which reunites him with The Holiday (2006) director Nancy Meyers.