Netflix has set the leads for The Boy in the Iron Box, its feature adaptation of the six-part horror novella series from Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro, on which Del Toro is a producer, Deadline can confirm. They are Rupert Friend (Companion), Kevin Durand (The Naked Gun), and Jaeden Martell (It films).
Published through Amazon Original Stories, the novella series watches as a plane carrying a team of mercenaries crash-lands on a remote snowy summit. When they come across a maze-like stone fortress, it’s no refuge from the wolves and the freezing wind. It’s more like a trap. What they discover can stop the heart — or worse. As terror takes a new shape, the real battle for survival begins.
David Prior, a collaborator of Del Toro’s on Netflix’s Cabinet of Curiosities, will direct from his own script. Del Toro will produce alongside longtime partner J. Miles Dale, with production to kick off in October. News of the project comes ahead of the November streaming release of Del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein.
Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi star in Del Toro’s Frankenstein, which after premiering in Venice, opens in limited theatrical release on October 17 before debuting on Netflix on November 7. Upcoming, the filmmaker is set for a 12-film retrospective at Beyond Fest and will also be seen at AFI Fest, serving as guest artistic director.
For Friend, 2025 has included credits include New Line’s AI-themed sci-fi horror flick Companion, Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, and Jurassic World Rebirth.
A collaborator of Del Toro’s on FX’s The Strain, Durand is coming off of Paramount’s The Naked Gun reboot.
Martell, meanwhile, could most recently seen starring in Our Hero, Balthazar, a dramedy he also produced which premiered at Tribeca earlier this year.