Johnny Depp is officially returning to major Hollywood studio films with a dark new take on a Christmas classic.
The 62-year-old actor will star as Ebenezer Scrooge in Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella from Paramount Pictures.
Billed as a “thrilling ghost story set in Dickens’ London,” the film follows a man forced to confront his past, present, and future to earn a second chance.
Horror filmmaker Ti West, known for X, Pearl and MaXXXine, will direct from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern (Tales from the Loop). Joining Depp in the cast is To Leslie Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough.
The film is slated for release on November 13, 2026, perDeadline.
Ebenezer marks Depp’s first major Hollywood studio project since 2019’s Waiting for the Barbarians and 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
In recent years, Depp has focused on European cinema, starring in the French biopic Jeanne du Barry and directing Modì: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, which hits US theaters November 7. He also stars opposite Penélope Cruz in the upcoming thriller Day Drinker.
Meanwhile, another dark A Christmas Carol adaptation is also in the works from Nosferatu director Robert Eggers and star Willem Dafoe.
Depp largely stepped back from Hollywood after his high-profile 2022 defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.