Laura Donnelly is joining Gael Garcia Bernal for Marvel’s Disney+ Halloween special, which reportedly could be Werewolf By Night. While information about this special is minimal, Deadline reports that Donnelly has been cast in this project and could be a character known as Vampire by Night.
Donnelly gained fame for her performance in HBO’s The Nevers and her role in movies The Program and Tolkien. She also won the Best Actress award at the Olivier awards for her performance in The Ferryman. Donnelly is the second performer cast for this Halloween project and is joining Bernal (Old), who will be reportedly be playing Werewolf by Night.
The name Werewolf by Night refers to two different characters within Marvel comics. The first one, Jack Russell, was introduced in 1972’s Marvel Spotlight #2. Russell comes from a long lineage of people cursed with lycanthropy. However, he is slightly different from most werewolves as he is fully aware of his transformations and is able to control himself to fight evildoers.
As for Laura Donnelly’s Marvel character, Vampire by Night (Nina Price) was introduced in 2005’s Amazing Fantasy #10. Price is the niece of Russell and has the ability to turn into either a vampire or a werewolf between dusk and dawn. The MCU is really diving deep into vampires with the upcoming debut of Mahershala Ali’s Blade and a confirmation from Owen Wilson’s Mobius in Loki that vampires exist within the MCU. If this Halloween special is indeed Werewolf by Night, we could see both werewolves and vampires within the MCU.
Also, according to Collider, Werewolf by Night has comic book connections to Moon Knight. Moon Knight will soon be played by Oscar Isaac in the character’s own Disney+ series. There is no official release date for Moon Knight, but we know it’s supposed to debut sometime in 2022. Maybe Werewolf by Night makes his debut at some point in the Disney+ series before the Halloween special.
