How Kit Harington & Sophie Turner Reunited & Kissed in Horror Movie The Dreadful | Interview
ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to The Dreadful director Natasha Kermani about the new Gothic horror movie. Kermani discussed working with Kit Harrington and Sophie Turner on the film, its connection to 1964’s Onibaba, and more.
“Experience an unnerving Gothic tale of horror reuniting Game of Thrones stars Sophie Turner and Kit Harington and featuring Academy Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden (Best Supporting Actress, Pollock, 2000),” the official synopsis reads. “Set in medieval England, Anne and her domineering mother-in-law, Morwen, struggle to survive on the outskirts of society. But when a man from Anne’s past returns from war, a curse begins to take shape through a mysterious knight that threatens to destroy them all.”
The Dreadful will be released in theaters, On Demand, and digitally on February 20, 2026, from Lionsgate.
Brandon Schreur: I’m such a big fan of this. I went into it not really knowing what to expect or what direction we were going with this one, but I loved the journey it took me on. By the time it ended, I was just like, ‘That was an experience. That was a full movie that I just watched.’ Can you tell me a little bit about how long you’ve been working on this movie, The Dreadful, and what the process of bringing it to life looked like from your end?
Natasha Kermani: It’s been a long, long process. It’s one of those stories where, you know, I’ve been working on this for years and years and years. I made a very small movie that did festivals in 2018 called Imitation Girl. As we were at festivals, this was the script that I had in my back pocket. They always say, ‘Have your next project in your back pocket.’ I had it. And it was not my next project. In fact, it’d be many years before we’d make it.
But it was a project that was always sort of with me; it was always sort of on the shelf but within reach. One of my agents had the idea to send it to Sophie Turner, which I thought was a really interesting idea. I kept getting ‘no’s’ because of the period. This is a thing where people are scared of period pieces. Anything that’s sort of historical is scary for financiers. But when Sophie agreed to sign on, I think it was sort of this great niche where it was her returning to this time period where people wanted to see her in. Once Kit came on board, it was like we just kept rolling forward and got to production.
That’s awesome. I’m so glad it turned out that way, because it sounds like it was a huge journey.
It was a long journey. All movies are long journeys, but this one was an especially long one, for sure.
I’ve seen in past comments you’ve made and articles about this movie that one of the things that The Dreadful is loosely inspired by is a Buddhist tale that was famously turned into Onibaba. Which, I love Onibaba.
It’s a gorgeous film.
Right? I saw it for the first time in college when I was a young, wee lad, and I was like, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before.’ And then I’ve rewatched it over and over since then.
Same, yeah.
Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with that movie? Do you remember when you first saw it, and was there any hesitation in making your own version of this story when there’s already this big, iconic movie that all the cool cinephiles are obsessed with?
I know, of course — I just totally set myself up for this impossible task. I love the film, too, and I think it’s untouchable. I actually was very lucky, I got to see a print of it at the Film Forum. So, the first time I saw it, it was actually in a theater. And, of course, that was a gorgeous experience, and I was just head-over-heels in love, of course.
But I think, for me, what really stuck was the core image of these two women — an older woman and a younger woman — surviving in this sort of desolate landscape. That, for me, was the seed. That codependent relationship, and seeing how that codependency starts to fray at the edges and dissolve and fall apart. That, I think, was the most exciting aspect for me, rather than something that’s a strict morality play. The folktale is very much a morality play, like here’s the good and bad.
So, really as a jump-off point, I just really liked the idea of the two women, more so than the idea of this one is good and this one is bad.
Yeah. That’s just what I find so interesting about adaptation. Two things can start from the same point, but we have Onibaba and now we have The Dreadful. And they’re different movies; you can see how they have some things in common, but they’re totally different experiences. I’m just always so fascinated by that.
Yeah, because the filmmaker is interested in different things, right? So Kaneto Shindo was interested in one thing, and I’m interested in something else. We’re also creating at very different times, while the folktale is much older than both of us. The sort of evergreen elements of it will always be there, but we’re operating in very different cultural environments.
Totally. The characters that you come up with and write in this movie are so interesting. I want to ask specifically about Anne, because her whole journey — again, I couldn’t place where it was going, but I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. When you were working on the script for the first time, what about the character really spoke to you, and what excited you the most to explore with her?
Yeah, I mean, I think she’s tough. I spoke about this with Sophie early on, but it seems like she’s just receiving information and is sort of a vessel for all of the other characters around her. Really, it’s not until the end of the film that she takes agency. But the challenge for me was, can we make this character alive? Yes, she’s quiet, and yes, she’s receiving, and she doesn’t really push back too hard against the people around her — until she does. But can we sort of show that curiosity inside of her? That sort of emerging independent spirit that we see, can we see that from the beginning of the film?
I think that’s something Sophie did really beautifully. What Sophie also brought to the table that I thought was very interesting was that Anne is a spiritual person. She actually does have this sort of solid idea of right and wrong, in a spiritual sense. To see that sort of getting broken down and affected over the course of the film, I thought that was a really interesting choice that Sophie, herself, brought to the table. I think Anne grew a lot from the first version of her to the version that we see on screen.
Sure. That jumps into what I want to ask you next, too. You said that you’ve been working on this all the way back to 2018. Obviously, it took a long time to get it together, and Sophie and Kit got involved. But when you’re first working on the script, you’re figuring out these characters, do you have specific actors in mind for who you want to play them? Or is it more just a process of creating them, bringing them to life, seeing where the story takes them, and then you figure it out from there?
Yeah, I never write for specific actors in mind. I think the character has to fully inhabit themselves, and then the actor comes in and brings their own essence to that skeleton. So that character is a skeleton who gets sort of fleshed out when the actor is involved. The one exception is that sometimes I’ll write supporting roles for actors that I love. They’ll pop in and out of my work; you’ll see some familiar faces come and go. So, sometimes I have specific people.
But the main characters, no, it’s always from the spine of the story, and the spine of the character. I try to leave enough looseness, right? I try to leave them somewhat open so that an actor can read the character and say, ‘Okay, I can bring my juice to this.’
Totally. We’ve talked about Sophie, but I also want to ask about Kit Harrington.
He’s an angel.
Obviously, a lot of people are going into this knowing these two actors from Game of Thrones. It’s just so cool to see how they have that relationship in that show, but here, they’re totally different characters. Seeing Sophie and Kit working together, what was that like from your experience? Did they come on board and figure it out themselves, or were you hands-on in helping them understand these characters?
Yeah, they’re both very hands-on. They really wanted to make sure they understood the intention of the script, for sure. The thing I’ll say, I did watch Game of Thrones. I didn’t know them before this film — I knew them as Jon and Sansa, like everyone else. But within minutes of talking to them in a room, they are so charismatic, and they are so themselves. They’re so completely alive, unique humans. Game of Thrones was left behind very, very quickly. They want to come to the material fresh.
They both were excited to return to the time period, but in a new and different context. They’re older, they’re different, and they look different. I think they are in a different place in their lives. So, all of that background, I think that they bring it to this project. And it’s very different than seeing 14-year-old Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark in Season 1.
Definitely. A credit to their performances and your directing, but you watch Game of Thrones, and they’re very clearly siblings. They play that so well. You go into this, it’s another period piece, but nope! They are not siblings!
It’s very funny. The [real-life] relationship is very much like they’re siblings, so they’re very funny about that. They were really dreading the time when they had to kiss. But they kept it together.
Totally. I read another thing just in a director’s statement that you made that you had a really short shooting schedule for this movie, right? Like, only 18 days and a limited budget. I’m sure that putting this together in such a short time with not a lot of money had a lot of challenges that came with that. What was that like, filming the actual movie, and was there anything you learned about filmmaking that you’re going to take with you after making The Dreadful?
Yeah, I think the enemies stay the same. The enemies of time and money. There’s never enough of either. We had the added element of weather. This was done entirely on location in Cornwall, England. We built that hut as you would build a medieval hut. It did have one removable wall. But we were completely exposed to the English winter the whole way through. I think, for me, it was just a reminder, if everything — the crew is usually there, they’re hardy, and they’re ready to go. But these actors did not hesitate for a second. Even like Marcia Gay Harden, who is such a glamorous woman, was so down to get down and dirty in the mud and cold as we dealt with all of these elements. Having actors who are just completely committed to getting it done is absolutely essential, especially on a little indie like this.
That makes total sense. I’m so glad it all turned out the way it did, because I’m sure there are probably 100 ways it could have gone wrong.
Yes, indeed.
The Dreadful is now being released on Friday. I’ve already told a bunch of my film friends that you’ve got to keep an eye out for this one because you’re going to want to watch it. Is there an aspect of the movie, though — whether it be a certain scene or a broader theme that you’re exploring here — that you’re most excited for audiences to see when watching it for the first time? What are you ultimately hoping people get from The Dreadful?
I think it lives in sort of this unique niche for horror and fantasy that is this sort of folk horror, fantasy adjacent — like, in-between genres. I think that’s sort of a fun sandbox to be playing in. I hope that people have an unexpected journey with this one.
Totally. I just have one more question for you, but I always like to end with this one when I can. You’re obviously a prolific, working artist in Hollywood who is making great art. So I want to ask, is there any other media out there that you’ve seen or witnessed recently — whether it be a show, a movie, a book, a play, or anything — that you’re crazy about and want to spread the good word about?
Oh my goodness. I’m recently a new mom, so I have not been consuming anything, truthfully. I hear that I need to catch up on Heated Rivalry. I’m hoping to get on that train soon.
Thanks to Natasha Kermani for taking the time to discuss The Dreadful.
Source: Comingsoon.net