James Wan's Secret Horror Film Casts Its Two Leads, Gets Possible Title [Updated]

Update: Variety reports that up-and-coming British actor George Young (Containment) has been cast as the male lead in Wan's secret movie, which is now tentatively titled Silvercup. Our original article about the film's initial casting announcement continues below.

James Wan's secret horror movie has found its star in Annabelle Wallis. The Mummy star, who recently appeared in Showtime's Roger Ailes miniseries The Loudest Voice, has been tapped to lead the James Wan horror movie cast, though details are still being kept under wraps.

Variety reports that Annabelle Wallis has been tapped to star in James Wan's as-yet-untitled horror movie, which he will tackle this Fall before he dives back into prepping the Aquaman sequel with Jason Momoa in 2020. Plot details are unknown for this top secret horror project, which Wan created the story for with Ingrid Bisu, and which he will produce through the Atomic Monster banner with Michael Clear. It's still unknown who will pen the final script.

This won't be Wallis' first time working with Wan. She collaborated with the director as the star of The Conjuring spin-off Annabelle, which was a huge box office success in 2014, raking in $257 million worldwide from a $6.5 million budget. Wallis is probably best known Stateside for her role in the doomed 2017 blockbuster The Mummy, though she's appeared on TV for years in Showtime's period drama The Tudors, and in the BBC drama Peaky Blinders.

Wan's untitled horror film is a recipient of the Independent California Film Rebate and is being independently financed through Starlight Media and Midas Innovation, who will retain distribution rights in China. New Line will handle the remaining distribution.

Wan's return to horror is much anticipated — the director hasn't helmed a horror film since The Conjuring 2 in 2016. Wan burst onto the scene with the surprise 2004 indie horror hit Saw, launching an entire horror franchise with other directors while he moved onto other genre pictures including Dead Silence, Death Sentence, Insidious, and finally, 2013's The Conjuring, which would spawn an entire cinematic universe. But Wan has been teasing his return to the genre in which he made his name for a while now, first announcing this secret horror project last month. While we don't know any more about this new film, it's an exciting prospect in and of itself.