Renfield has finally risen into cinemas, and by all accounts, there’s never been a more off-the-chain Dracula story; whether that works for or against the film seems to come down to one’s personal preference, specifically the degree of one’s affinity for blood-spattered action interwoven with some gut-busting dialogue and a deceptively heartwarming emotional journey.
But the question remains: will we be seeing Nicholas Hoult’s bug-eating superhuman in a sequel? Renfield, after all, has already set what’s probably a new record in the realm of sequels; indeed, as an official sequel to the 1931’s Dracula, the release of Renfield may mark the longest we’ve ever had to wait for a film to get it’s follow-up feature.
Make no mistake, more Renfield would be a lot of fun, but we’d probably be wise to not get our hopes up here. Robert Kirkman, who conceived the idea for Renfield and served as an executive producer on the film, has already given his thoughts on the possibilities of a shared universe (which, given the fate of the Dark Universe, would have been a great time to bring up the definition of insanity), and though he didn’t outrightly dismiss anything at the time, the enthusiasm with which he praised Universal for giving them the space to do a standalone movie indicates to us that the desire isn’t really there.
He did mention, however, that a sequel could be possible if Renfield performs well at the box office, but let’s be honest, that goes for pretty much any film that can bring in those returns.
All in all, it’s probably safe to check off Renfield: Far From Home as a hollow dream, but don’t let that deter you from catching Nicholas Hoult’s co-dependent shenanigans in Renfield, which is currently playing in theaters.