Björk Is Unleashing Her True Form To Play A Witch In Robert Eggers' Viking Movie 'The Northman'

Björk playing a witch? What will they think of next? The musician and actress is known for her otherworldly persona, so it's no surprise that she is set to play a witch in Robert Eggers' next film, which is not in fact titled The Witch II. Björk will be joining the cast of The Northman, Eggers' Viking revenge movie featuring a hell of a star-studded cast including Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Skarsgård and Willem Dafoe.

According to a casting call list (via The Playlist) for The Northman, Eggers' highly anticipated follow-up to 2019's The Lighthouse, Björk will reportedly play the "Slav witch." The cast list also shows Kate Dickie as part of the cast, reuniting with Eggers after her disturbing turn in The Witch.

Björk's musical persona is one of surreal, eclectic experimentation, so it's not much of a reach for her to play a witch. The Northman will be her first major feature film role since starring in Lars Von Trier's dark 2000 musical Dancer in the Dark, which won the Palme d'Or at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival and for which Björk received the Best Actress Award. She hasn't acted much since, only appearing in the visual film project Drawing Restraint 9 in 2005, though it's likely because of her terrible experience with von Trier, who she alleges sexually harassed her on set.

But Eggers, a rising director who has made a mark with his stylish, low-budget horror films The Witch and The Lighthouse, hopefully doesn't have that problem, with stars like Taylor-Joy, Dafoe, and Dickie returning to work with the filmmaker again.

The Northman is described as a Viking epic which follows "a grounded story set in Iceland at the turn of the 10th century that centers on a Nordic prince who seeks revenge for the death of his father." Eggers wrote the screenplay with Icelandic poet and novelist, Sjón, and has described the film as his biggest and most large-scale production yet.

"The scale is so huge and there are so many more locations and things that I couldn't do everything or know every prop myself," Eggers said recently. "That's been a challenge with the new movie."

Due to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, Eggers has had to maintain "a very small crew," but the director is expecting "many locations" with "a lot of extras" that will require a grander scale than he's worked with before. The film is just starting to reshoot again after a coronavirus delay in March. No release date has yet been set, but it's possible we'll see The Northman — and Björk in her true form — sometime in 2021.