Night in the Woods (2026 film)

Night in the Woods is a 2026 animated mystery film directed by Edgar Wright. The film was written by Wright and Joe Cornish, and produced by Nira Park and Reese Witherspoon. It stars Mae, played by Hailee Steinfeld, an anthropromorphic cat who had recently dropped out of college for being such a rebellious student. She then comes back her hometown to find some unexpected changes. The film co-stars Zach Woods, Beck, Elliot Page, Ken Jeong, Nick Offerman, and Megan Mullally. It is based on 2017 video game of the same name by Alec Holowka and Scott Benson.

Development of the film began at Warner Bros. following the game's 5th anniversary. Wright was attached to the project early in development, with Park and Witherspoon heading as producers. The film premiered at the Annecy International Film Festival on April 5, 2026, and was widely released in North America on May 17, 2026.

It was met with universal critical and commercial acclaim, grossing $30 million worldwide against a budget of $6.1 million and receiving two nominations at the Saturn Awards. It was also received as one of the best video game to movie adaptions, according to Screen Rant. Benson also praised the movie for it's narrative storytelling.

Plot
Margaret "Mae" Borowski is a 20-year-old college dropout, who relocates back to her Rust Belt-inspired hometown of Possum Springs, which has been struck by the closure of the coal mines and the stagnating economy. She meets up with her old friends, including gloomy but intelligent Beatrice "Bea" Santello, hyperactive delinquent Greggory "Gregg" Lee, and Gregg's quiet, modest boyfriend Angus Delaney. Mae also learns that another one of her old friends, Casey Hartley, has mysteriously disappeared.

Mae spends several days exploring Possum Springs and spending time with her friends, but she also begins to have strange and vivid dreams. At the town's Halloween festival, Mae witnesses a teenager being kidnapped by a mysterious figure. The four friends begin working together to figure out what is going on, with Mae's mental health slowly deteriorating with every one of her dreams. After intensive searching, the four stumble across a strange group of cloaked figures in the woods, who chase after them; Mae ends up falling and lapses into a coma.

Mae eventually wakes up and returns to her friends, and she reveals that the reason she dropped out was due to her increasing dissociation from people and the world (it is implied that Mae suffers from some sort of depersonalization disorder), seeing everything as merely shapes. Mae's journal, in which she draws pictures for each major event in the game, was given to her by a doctor to write down her emotions after she bludgeoned a student with a softball bat six years ago as a result of a dissociative episode. Due to this incident, the townsfolk became wary of Mae and caused a financial and emotional strain in her family. As her dissociation worsened at college, Mae mustered up the strength to leave and return home, hoping that being back in Possum Springs would help her return to normal.

Still wounded, Mae decides to venture out into the woods alone to find the group who chased her and the others, only for Gregg, Bea, and Angus to refuse to let her go by herself. The group enter the old mines and meet the mysterious group, who are revealed to be a cult. The cult turns out to be behind the kidnappings of several residents, including Casey, taking those whom they deem useless to society and whom they say will "not be missed" into the mines to sacrifice them to a god-like chthonic entity called the Black Goat in hope that the Black Goat will revitalize the economy of Possum Springs. The cult's leader allows the group to leave, threatening them never to tell anyone about the cult – however while riding up the mine's elevator, a member of the group attacks Mae. The others manage to save her and the elevator falls, collapsing the mine and presumably trapping the cult underground.

Mae sits down with both Bea or Gregg and talk about the events of the previous night, and all the things that have happened in Possum Springs. The others join them shortly after, and Mae tells them that although they will all be forced to grow and adapt to life as it goes on for better and for worse, they can still enjoy their time together now. The game ends as the four decide to forget about their problems for the time being and have band practice.

Cast

 * Hailee Steinfeld as Margaret "Mae" Borowski
 * Brooklynn Prince as Young Mae
 * Zach Woods as Greggory "Gregg" Lee-
 * Beck David Hansen as Angus Delaney-
 * Elliot Page as Beatrice "Bea" Santello-
 * Ken Jeong as Germ Warfare-
 * Donald Glover as Cole
 * Saoirse Ronan as Lori Meyers
 * Rachel Bloom as Aunt Molly
 * Nick Offerman as Stan Borowski
 * Megan Mullally as Candy Borowski
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mr. Chazokov
 * Oscar Issac as Bruce
 * Emma Stone as Selmers
 * KJ Apa as Casey Hartley
 * Keith David as Mae's Grandfather
 * Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Garbo & Malloy

Development
Scott Benson wanted to make a movie about Night in the Woods prior to Holowka's death. In an interview with Polygon, Benson stated that "it's what he would have wanted" when he was funding the game on Kickstarter. He wished the movie's artstyle to be similar to the 2018 movie Spider Man-Into the Spider Verse, because that would have apparently evolved the game's artstyle by a lot. In June of 2022, several studios, including Annapurna Pictures, Legendary Entertainment, and Universal Studios, were reported to have bid on the film's rights, with Annapurna having Travis Knight as director, Legendary starring Emma Watson as Mae, and Universal getting DreamWorks Animation to animate the movie. The rights ended up in the hands of Warner Bros. for $27 million dollars.

After getting the rights, the studio hired Dan Lin and Reese Witherspoon to produce the movie as well as to oversee animation. Lin suggested Guy Ritchie to write and direct the movie, after the two collaborated on each other for Sherlock Holmes and the 2019 remake of Aladdin. Ritchie, however declined the offer, saying that a movie like this needs the right director, and did not think he was up for the job. Meanwhile in Soho, Witherspoon met up with Edgar Wright, and made him a deal to direct the movie. Warner Bros officially announced Wright as director, making this Wright's animated feature film, since Shadows got cancelled.

Casting
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