Afterlife (film)

Afterlife is a 2029 psychological comedy horror thriller film directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Vivienne Medrano and Jon Spaihts. Produced by Atomic Monster and distributed by TriStar Pictures, the film stars Henry Cavill and Emma Stone in the lead roles, while Keith David, Boyd Holbrook, Robin Wright, Corey Hawkins, Tony Hale, Lake Bell, Aaron Paul, and Sean Bean play supporting roles. The film follows a fallen angel named Xerous escaping from hell into Earth where she meets Rose, a human girl from a prominent family.

Plot
(Coming soon)

Development
While making Hazbin Hotel, Medrano had developed a spec script called Beyond Puragatory collaborating with Prometheus writer Jon Spaihts. They were hoping that it would develop into an animated movie, like Nerdland. Spaihts said it was a mixture of The Conjuring and Predator. However, the project never materialized, as Medrano was busy making Helluva Boss, another animated series she had been working on. The script then got the attention of horror filmmaker James Wan, and planned to option to make the script into a movie, which also got them a distribution deal with Sony Pictures. For the director role, they planned on having Christopher Landon direct the movie based on his previous films like Happy Death Day and Freaky. Landon, however, declined the offer, but he would later regret this decision. Vivienne and Wan would later offer the director role to Muschietti, and he accepted it in July 2024.

Casting
For the character of Xerous, they wanted Shia LaBeouf to play the main role, but it was later given to Henry Cavill in October. In February 2025, Emma Stone was cast as Sara, his human love interest. In April, Sean Bean was announced to join the cast. Susan Sarandon joined, but dropped out shortly after. Robin Wright was cast in her place. In May, Boyd Holbrook, Corey Hawkins, and Lake Bell joined. Later, Aaron Paul was cast as Sar'gonis, a bounty hunter hired to kill Xerous. In August, Tony Hale and Jack McBrayer had roles as a gay couple who is supposed to be the most horniest couple in hell. In September, Keith David was announced to be joining the cast as the king of all demons.

Filming
Principal photography began in North Carolina in February 2026. Many houses were built by production designer Jeffrey Beecroft for the fake town of Whiteridge, Oregon. A lair, made for Xerous, was built on a sound stage in Shepperton Studios, made out of bones. It ended in August that year.