Werewolf by Night’s Gael Garcia Bernal Reveals Primary Inspiration for Role

Like all other title characters across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Werewolf by Night has been a part of the Marvel stable for decades. Despite having a fair share of source material to pull from, Werewolf by Night star Gael Garcia Bernal says the comics weren’t his primary inspiration for the role. Instead, the critically-acclaimed actor dove into the mythology behind werewolves to help develop his character.

“I did those two things that you mentioned,” Bernal recently told Marvel.com when asked if he read comics or watched old movies. “But at the same time, I started to read a lot about the mythology of werewolves as well, along with half-human creatures in different cultures of the world. I started to investigate a little bit and started to place it also in a kind of a sociological anthropological maybe kind of archetype of society, and where do they fit?”

The actor added that he wanted to deconstruct the genre and turn monsters into deeply personable characters. “And I think there are so many opportunities there to tell so many things about the state of things nowadays,” Bernal added. “But also the fact that the monsters, what do they represent? Are they only the sublimation of our traumas, of our collective traumas? But are they also an excuse to persecute some people? It can have those consequences, you know, those kinds of tangents and argumentative tangents as well. So I got really interested in this character because of all these possibilities.”

Are we getting a Werewolf by Night sequel?

As it stands now, there’s no confirmed plans to develop a sequel to Marvel’s first Halloween special. While Bernal’s Jack Russell, Laura Donnelly’s Elsa Bloodstone, and Man-Thing are all but guaranteed to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that future has yet to be seen. Both Werewolf by Night helmer Michael Giacchino and producer Brian Gay have been adamant about wanting to develop a true one-shot special.

“And so anytime that there’s, you know, a tag, it’s always what’s next, what’s going on for these characters,” Gay said in a recent interview with The Direct. “[The Werewolf and Man-Thing] don’t know what’s happening next. They barely made it through this night alive. And so it always felt a little weird that we would return back to something when oh my gosh, you made it out. Just celebrate that moment as opposed to carry on.”

Werewolf by Night is now streaming on Disney+. What other characters do you think should get a similar special? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!